Australia’s Marcus Stoinis speaks to the umpire after losing his wicket, caught by South Africa’s Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada as Marnus Labuschagne looks on, during the ICC Cricket World Cup match in Lucknow on October 12, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne said the team would seek clarity from World Cup match officials about the controversial manner in which Marcus Stoinis was given out following a review in their heavy defeat by South Africa on Thursday.

All-rounder Stoinis was adjudged caught behind off a Kagiso Rabada delivery during the 18th over of Australia’s unsuccessful chase of 312 after a review of the call by the on-field umpire, despite the batsman’s bottom hand looking to be off the bat as the ball struck his glove.

Third umpire Richard Kettleborough adjudged that although Stoinis’ right glove was off the bat handle, it was in contact with the left one which was holding on to the bat. But TV replays appeared to show a gap between the gloves.

“The hand’s connected to his top hand, therefore in contact with the bat and we’ve got a clear spike,” Kettleborough said as he asked on-field umpire Joel Wilson to reverse his original decision and give the batsman out.

A shocked Stoinis spoke with the on-field umpires before eventually leaving for the dugout.

“It was certainly confusing and I’m sure we’ll get clarity or we’re going to seek for clarity because it’s a World Cup and we don’t want small decisions that can be avoided to change the outcomes of games,” Australia batsman Labuschagne said.

“Obviously, in the situation we were in it’s hard to say that it was going to change the outcome but for the future you certainly want to make sure we get them right.”

Labuschagne, whose 46 was the only notable score in the 134-run defeat, said Australia were disappointed at not putting up a fight in their loss to India in Chennai and again in Lucknow and sought a response when they meet Sri Lanka on Monday.

“I’d consider us one of the top sides and it’s disappointing that we haven’t competed in the last two games,” he added. “But we’ve got to make sure we’re learning from these scenarios.

“We faced probably two polar opposite extremes, heavy spin conditions against probably three of the best, well, two of the best spinners India’s ever produced and probably one of the best white ball spinners and then here against the seaming swinging ball against a team that’s also good in those conditions.

“So, we’ve got to get better and we’ve got to make sure that we come back stronger for the next fixture.”