ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Chris Woakes Out to Controversial Sadeera Samarawickrama Catch

Sadeera Samarawickrama takes the stunning low catch to dismiss Chris Woakes as England crumbles down. The controversial decision was given by the third umpire at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru today.

Batting first, England suffered a mighty middle-order collapse against Sri Lanka. Jonny Bairstow, who was lucky not to be out on the first ball of the innings, hit 45 runs opening partnership with Dawid Malan. Until the 30th over of England innings, that is the highest partnership shared.

Malan was first to come out at 45 scored by the wicketkeeper Angelo Mathews. After that, Joe Root ran himself out. Within the 4 overs after this, Bairstow, Jos Buttler, and Liam Livingstone were out of the game as England reduced to 85-5.

Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali added 37 for the 6th wicket. Woakes came into to batting at 8th position and could only hand for four boundaries. A length ball outside off by Kasun Rajitha was sliced to the point where Samarawickrama was stationed.

A wicketkeeper, Samarawickrama displayed fast reflexes and brilliant agility to cling onto a low catch. The umpires referred it to the TV umpire. Although the replays weren’t crystal clear from any angle, the TV umpire adjudged that he felt the fingers were underneath the ball and that no part of the ball touched the ground.