Third umpire drama strikes at Gabba

A sporting decision from the Adelaide Strikers, at the initiative of paceman Ben Laughlin, to withdraw a run-out appeal has helped avert a minor diplomatic incident on the opening night of the KFC BBL.

Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn was left fuming after new recruit James Pattinson was ruled out by third umpire Greg Davidson in a close run-out referral during the hosts’ first innings on Wednesday evening.

The verdict of 'out' on the Gabba big screen left players, punters and commentators alike scratching their heads, with television replays appearing to show Pattinson had marginally made his ground on the tight single.

Umpires Simon Fry and Paul Wilson also seemed confused by the call and chaos momentarily reigned as Pattinson remained on the field of play and Lynn raged at fourth official Donovan Koch on the edge of the field.

Adam Gilchrist later revealed on Fox Cricket that radio communication between third umpire Davidson and on-field officials dropped out completely after the 'out' decision had flashed up on the big screens.

It took a sportsmanlike decision from Adelaide's skipper Colin Ingram to see sense restored, with Laughlin offering the idea to withdraw the appeal.

"I'm not sure why it was given out, but I think the common-sense rule needed to come in, and we finally got there in the end," Laughlin told cricket.com.au after the Strikers' five-wicket victory.

"I think it was our last option to get it done, so we offered to withdraw the appeal and we moved on.

"I just went up to Colin (Ingram) our captain and just said, 'Mate, let's forget about this and move on'.

"If it had been Chris Lynn and he was 200, I might've re-thought it, but we were in a pretty good position so it was alright."

Ingram said his side had just wanted to continue the game after a delay that lasted about five minutes.

"It was a unique scenario," Ingram told Fox Cricket at the innings break. "I ended up chatting with Benny Laughlin and he said, 'what's the option on withdrawing the appeal?'

"The initial idea came from him, the good sport he is.

"We could all clearly see it wasn't out. You could look like an idiot on TV if it isn't (out) but you've got to back what we saw and our boys were really happy with that.

"We just wanted to get on with the game."

Asked if he'd seen an appeal withdrawn before, Ingram said: "No, that's why I didn't know whether that was an option or not.

"All you want to do is get the right decision.

"I thought maybe he'd pressed the wrong button or something like that."

Strikers wicketkeeper Alex Carey confirmed immediately after the incident that they'd made the generous call to withdraw, agreeing that the visitors themselves didn't think it was out after seeing replays.

"I'm sure you guys probably thought he was safe," Carey said on Channel Seven's broadcast.

"What we could see on the big screen (was) that James was in, so Colin just told the umpires that we all acknowledged that we thought he was in and was free to bat on.

"Everyone could see it, I'm not sure what was seen upstairs."

It made little difference in the overall scheme of the innings.

Pattinson added only a further four runs after his reprieve before being stumped by Carey the following over.

Brisbane soon slumped to 9-101 before wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson (24 not out from 13 balls) and No.11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman (27 off 22) revived their innings to help set Adelaide 147 to win.

The Strikers went on to claim victory in the final over.