While the visitors South Africa won the third and final ODI of the series against the hosts Australia at Hobart by 40 runs on Sunday (November 11), there was a big talking point and also can be called the turning point of the game and that David Miller review that gave him another life in that game and it changed the perception of the game too.
After winning the toss, the hosts sent the visitors to bat first. South Africa had a poor start as they went down to 55/3. Since then, the skipper Faf du Plessis and the middle-order batsman David Miller were busy to re-shape that innings by building a solid partnership.
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They were running on a good way before that turning point came. It was the 33rd over of that innings while the Aussie off-spinner Glenn Maxwell trapped Miller for lbw. South Africa was on 133 runs while Miller was on 41 and Faf was batting on 42 with the 78-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The bowling end umpire Aleem Dar gave the out decision after the Australians went for an appeal.
Faf and Miller were in doubts and they took the huge time before taking the DRS. While only the involved batsman can show the ‘T’ sign with his both hands to take that review, Faf showed that sign to the umpire and it came 18 seconds after that dismissal, while the ICC rules have allowed maximum 15 seconds after the umpires’ decision.
It took a LONG time for the Proteas to review, but they'll be glad they did! #AUSvSA@GilletteAU #CloseMatters pic.twitter.com/E7u7X9QgEu
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 11, 2018
It evolves as a big talking point after Miller was saved through that review as the ball tracker showed it would miss the stumps. Both Faf (125) and Miller (139) scored centuries and provided the game-changing 252-run partnership for the fourth wicket and Miller also won both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards.
Talking about that late call, Faf said, “Dave asked me what I reckon. I said ‘I think it’s pretty close but let’s have a look’. (I) turned around to the umpire and said, ‘We’ll refer that’. I don’t think he heard me. Dave said about five seconds later, ‘We’ll refer it’. He (the umpire) was like, ‘No your time’s up’. I just said to him, ‘We said like eight seconds ago’.”
Meanwhile, Miller also spoke about that moment as he was unsure on that decision and just hoped for the best at that moment.
The hero of the match and the series, Miller said, “It was one of those where you hold your breath and hope for the best. Faf did it (ask for a review) first. Obviously the umpire didn’t see or hear.”
However, the Australian cricketer Shaun Marsh, who hit a brilliant fighting century (106) during that big run chase, believes that it wasn’t controversial.
Marsh shared his opinion on that matter, “It was a big moment in the game but it wasn’t out. I thought they batted extremely well.”
