Watch: Umpires gives batter out, then reverses his decision in a bizarre incident

Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers played the 31st match of the BBL 2021-22 at Junction Oval, Melbourne on January 2. The Scorchers made 180 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. Kurtis Patterson was the highest scorer with 54 runs off 39 balls.

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In the 14th over, Xavier Crone almost had his first BBL wicket on debut but umpire Bruce Oxenford had other plans in his mind. Crone was called to bowl the 14th over to Scorchers’ Ashton Turner.

Turner tried to pull the first delivery but it looked like he had edged it to wicketkeeper Joe Clarke for an easy catch.

Oxenford gave Turner out initially before retracting his decision. Actually, the ball had hit Turner’s helmet before Clarke completed the catch. He communicated the same to the umpire, who changed his decision right after that.

BBL posted the video of this incident on Twitter, which received mixed reactions from the fans.

Xavier Crone had his first BBL wicket on debut - for all of three seconds! 👷‍♂️💥@KFCAustralia | #BBL11 pic.twitter.com/LDz2frhXOV

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 2, 2022

One fan wrote, "I don't understand why we need him, if he is gonna ask players every time have you hit with bat, have you touched the ball. Ohh man. This umpire really trust words of people,” as quoted by NDTV.

Another fan supported the umpire and wrote, "Good umpiring. Knew he'd jumped the gun and was professional enough to not stick with a decision he knew was wrong. Having snicko would be make it interesting thought.”

In reply to Scorchers’ 180 runs, the Stars could make only 130 and lost the match by 50 runs. Joe Clarke and Tom Rogers added 78 runs in 8.3 overs for the first wicket. But, apart from them, no other batter could find the rhythm.

Stars were without several of their key players, who missed out after a COVID-19 outbreak before their clash with Scorchers in match 27 of the BBL.