Victorian batsman removed in 'once in a lifetime' dismissal

A batsman was given out in a Mid Year Cricket Association match between Moonee Valley and Strathmore Heights despite the bails staying on when middle stump was dislodged. Photo / Fox Sport.

It is the bizarre dismissal which defied physics and has polarised Australia.

Moonee Valley batsman Jatinder Singh was given out during his side's Mid Year Cricket Association match against Strathmore Heights on Saturday despite the bails not being dislodged when the middle stump was knocked out of the ground.

How the bails managed to remain unmoved between leg and off stump remains up for debate, although Moonee Valley captain Michael Ozbun has a few theories.

"There was a little bit of debate and the umpire was a bit confused as well," Ozbun said.

"Nobody had seen anything like that before.

"I was on the boundary, I saw the stumps fly and thought 'all right, he got bowled, it was a silly shot'.

"Then everybody was standing around the wickets and I didn't know why.

"I went out there, saw what was going on and it was very confusing."

Both teams agreed Singh was out, with a later check of the rule book confirming they made the right call.

"We had no idea what the actual ruling on it was, but we all admired it for a few minutes," Ozbun said.

"You probably couldn't do that again if you tried.

"We weren't sure if maybe (the stumps) were put it at a slight angle so there was just a little bit of pressure.

"When they were sitting on the stumps, they were in the grooves. It wasn't like the middle of the bails were above the stumps or anything.

"The ball had to have hit at the exact right point that the stump didn't fly up, it went down."

MYCA president Neil Daly confirmed the umpire made the correct decision in the "once in a lifetime" scenario.

"The only similar incident I had was a bail slipped down between the stumps and wedged between the stumps," Daly said.

"It was given not out because it hadn't completely been removed.

"They put the bail back on."

Opinions have been divided on social media since a photo of the dismissal surfaced yesterday.

Jake Punton wrote: "This is tricky. The rules say the bails must be dislodged from the stumps. It looks like they have in fact been dislodged from middle stump as they are no longer resting on it so ill say out."

Allan Howe added: "As a batsman after hearing the death rattle do you think you would hang around and argue after the fact your middle stump is 10 metres away?"

Law 28 of the rules of cricket states: 'The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground.'

Moonee Valley won the fixture, chasing down 196 with four wickets to spare.