SA20 | Twitter confused as bizarre rule denies Tom Abell seemingly clean superhuman six save

Smuts took advantage of a slower ball down leg from Daniel Worrall in the 17th over to powerfully heave it over deep square leg and the ball seemed to be clearing the ropes easily but Tom Abell had other plans. The 27-year-old waited till the last moment before thrusting himself diagonally backwards into the air and snatching at the ball with his fully extended right hand. He showed immaculate technique by timely folding his legs when floating to gain air-time and flicked the Kookaburra back into play timely before hitting the ground with his foot. Both Smuts and Pooran had assumed the six an inevitability and only managed to casually trot for a single with a look of disbelief on their face after witnessing Abell's heroics, as was the case for the entire crowd at St. George's Park. The replays all but confirmed at first Abell had accomplished his task albeit repeated replays by the third-umpire instead of announcing a decision sowed some seeds of doubt in the spectators' minds.

As it turned out, while leaping Abell had mistakenly stood on the boundary hoarding and as per the laws of the game, the fielder needs to be completely within the playing area to deem any efforts to save a boundary valid. The 29-year-old was evidently distraught when the umpire signalled six and a collective boo echoed around the stadium, accurately mirroring the sentiments of Twitterati.    

— Travis Head (@TravisHead8441) 

Thats crazy

That’s some effort by Tom Abell 💥 

— Rampy (@RiserTweex) 

Incredible effort

Tom abell one of the greatest save?? Noo its a six very unfortunate

— Archer (@poserarcher) 

Just robbed off