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Disputed Cameron Green catch overshadows Australia dominance over India

The moment in question as Cameron Green dives low to his left to take an edge of the bat of Shubman Gill - Getty Images/Ryan Pierse
The moment in question as Cameron Green dives low to his left to take an edge of the bat of Shubman Gill - Getty Images/Ryan Pierse

Two years ago, Australia watched New Zealand lift the inaugural World Test Championship crown. “You wish you were there,” captain Pat Cummins later said. Now, Australia almost are: they need seven wickets to defeat India, making good on their regrets of 2021 and putting the seal on their Ashes preparations.

Victory would be an important part of furthering the legacy of this Australian side — who, for all their talent and several stints as the Test No 1 ranked side, have only mustered a solitary Test series victory away from home since February 2016. With India 164 for three in pursuit of 444, in Australia’s way stands Virat Kohli, undefeated on 44: every exquisite stroke that he played during an enthralling final hour was greeted raucously by the Indian supporters at the Oval.

The crowd were altogether less content just shy of three hours earlier — when, for the second consecutive day, Cameron Green took a stunning one-handed catch at gully, this time to remove Shubman Gill and end India’s enterprising opening stand. It then fell to third umpire Richard Kettleborough to adjudicate on the legitimacy of the catch. After several minutes, Kettleborough decided that Green’s left-handed dive had indeed grasped the chance. As the third umpire’s decision flashed up at The Oval, India cricket fans chanted ‘cheat, cheat, cheat’ and ‘same old Aussies, always cheating’. It was, if nothing else, good preparation for what awaits at Edgbaston in the opening Ashes Test on Friday.

Gill made his frustration apparent — traipsing off slowly after being given out for 18. Fifteen minutes after the end of the day’s play, Gill tweeted a picture of two magnified glasses next to a front-on picture of Green diving to the ground with the ball in his hand, appearing to cast doubt on the decision.

Mohammed Shami, the Indian fast bowler, said that the catch should have been looked at in even more detail before being awarded out. “We could have taken some time,” he said. “It’s the World Test Championship final, not a normal match that you let go. It should have been checked better, zoomed in, but it’s okay, it’s part of the game.”

Camera angles are often liable to be inconclusive for such catches. The foreshortening of the camera lens is liable to make the ball appear as if it has touched the ground even when it hasn’t, as the late Tony Greig, and numerous other commentators, have since demonstrated. Indeed, the picture that Gill tweeted also showed that some of Green’s foot appeared to be below ground level.

“I knew I caught it straight away,” Green said. “I thought it was clean and threw it up and obviously showed no sign of any doubt basically. And then it’s left up to the third umpire and he agreed.”

The incident came in only the second Test match since the abolition of the soft signal, under which on-field umpires indicated to the third umpire whether or not they thought that a catch was out before the third umpire made a final decision.

After the loss of Gill, India maintained their aggressive pursuit of an unlikely 444 to win. The ease with which the top order drove Mitchell Starc, who leaked 45 runs from just seven overs after being switched from taking the new ball to first change, continued Starc’s uncertain start to the English Test summer. His figures so far this Test now read: 20.4 overs, no maidens, two wickets and 116 runs. England, you suspect, would be delighted if he has a similar return at Edgbaston.

With Josh Hazlewood nearing full fitness, Starc’s position in the Australia XI is far from assured. Yet he has still given an illustration of his value this Test with a punchy 41 on the fourth day, sharing 93 for the seventh wicket with Alex Carey, and brutal lifter to dismiss Kohli in the first innings.

Australia might yet need something similar again — though, with a relatively long tail, it would rank among the Test game’s greatest ever feats if India were to set a new record for the highest ever chase.

Still, the Oval has been the scene of historic feats for India in the past. In 1971, B. S. Chandrasekhar spun India to their first ever Test win in England, sealing the series to boot; in 1979, when Sunil Gavaskar’s double-century put India in sight of a world record chase, before they ended up 429 for eight in pursuit of 438. While the bulk of England’s squad are playing golf in Scotland, India — no doubt cheered on by the absent hosts — will have designs on a repeat.