Maxi's hoick collides with Flying Fox

Fox Cricket promised they'd bring viewers closer to the action after securing the Australian cricket broadcast rights but this might not have been quite what they had in mind.

Glenn Maxwell may have been spared his wicket after a skied hoick smashed into Fox Cricket’s bird’s-eye camera suspended above the Gabba pitch during the first Gillette T20 International on Wednesday.

As per the International Cricket Council's playing conditions, it was ruled a dead ball, with India spinner Krunal Pandya conceding two runs off the following delivery.

The incident occurred in the 16^th over of Australia’s innings with the hosts on 3-151 and Maxwell on 44 off just 22 balls having belted four sixes to lead Australia's fightback following a shaky start.

The Aussies went on to set India 174 to win from their allotted 17 overs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-affected first innings.

Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann told Macquarie Radio that the camera should not have been positioned directly above the pitch, although it certainly provided viewers a unique view of Maxwell’s stroke.

Fast bowler Billy Stanlake told Fox Cricket during the ensuing rain delay that Maxwell might have counted himself lucky, suggesting the ball looked to have been heading straight up for a catch rather than for a six.

Dubbed the 'Flying Fox', the camera is suspended by a series of wires and provides a unique angle from directly above the action, a similar piece of technology to the 'SpiderCam' that was used by Channel Nine.

It's not the first time that suspended cameras have been in the spotlight, with the most notable incident in cricket one that saw former Test captain Steve Smith claim he was distracted by its wires after dropping a skied catch against India in the 2015 SCG Test.

While the ball never hit the camera, a joint statement from Nine and Cricket Australia said players could in future ask for SpiderCam to be moved if they're unhappy with its placement.

The following year in an ODI against India, also at the SCG, Smith called for the camera to keep a greater distance from on-field action after Virat Kohli was denied a boundary having hitting SpiderCam. India went onto win the match.

"He was probably our best fielder tonight, SpiderCam. He saved four," opposing captain Smith joked at the time before offering a serious suggestion: "I just think we need to make sure it's away when the ball is coming.

"We don't need to see things like that where it's a dead ball. Something like that can really change the course of the game.

Former India captain MS Dhoni, who is not touring Australia for the ongoing T20 series, was cruelly denied a six while in the nineties in a one-dayer against England last year when he broke the broadcasters' Spidercam. He brought up his 10^th ODI ton up soon after.

ICC's T20I Playing Conditions 20.1.3:

In a match where cameras are being used on or over the field of play (e.g. Spidercam), should a ball that has been hit by the batsman make contact, while still in play, with the camera, its apparatus or its cable, either umpire shall call and signal ‘dead ball’. The ball shall not count as one of the over and no runs shall be scored. If the delivery was called a No ball it shall count and the No ball penalty shall be applied. No other runs (including penalty runs) apart from the No ball penalty shall be scored.

Gillette T20s v India 

November 21: The Gabba

November 23: MCG

November 25: SCG

Australia T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.

India T20 squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.