Erratic Mitch admits catch should have been his

Thunder quick Mitch McClenaghan admits he felt aggrieved that his path to claiming a return catch was impeded by the Strikers' Jonno Wells, but conceded that the even greater crime was his failure to hold the chance.

The Strikers began their BBL|07 campaign with a clinical 53-run win over the Thunder, with a total that initially looked a little skinny being artfully defended by a new-look attack that included ex-Test quick Peter Siddle and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.

But the game's talking point came earlier in the evening, when McClenaghan found himself in a heated clash with Wells after the pair collided and a crucial chance went begging.

It was in the 18th over and the Strikers were 5-156 and looking for a flying finish when Jake Lehmann (on 12) adopted his front-on stance that signalled an intended ramp shot over keeper Jos Buttler's head.

But Lehmann miscued so badly that the ball rebounded from the toe of his bat and looped lazily to midwicket with neither the striker or his batting partner entirely certain where it was headed.

Upon realising the mis-hit was unlikely to yield a single and more probably a wicket, Wells stopped in his tracks and was unaware that McClenaghan was immediately behind him and that the Strikers batter was impeding his path to the ball.

Although the New Zealand paceman muscled his way past Wells and made the ground required to take the catch, he clearly felt his capacity to hold the chance had been compromised by Wells's presence and let his opponent know when the ball hit the turf.

McClenaghan's verbal spray at Wells prompted the Thunder to query whether a case existed for an 'obstructing the field' dismissal, but after multiple views of the incident from numerous angles it was deemed that the collision was incidental.

"It was one of those situations where I felt like I was impeded, but in all honesty I probably should have still taken the catch," McClenaghan said after the match

"It didn't overly cost us in the end, but it was just one of those things that might have swung the momentum in our favour a little bit more.

"We might have been chasing 10 runs less.

"It's gone from the memory now, the biggest thing I always talk about in T20 bowling is that you need to have a short memory.

"If you let the last ball or the last over affect you, that's when you get yourselves in trouble."

McClenaghan's teammate Aiden Blizzard, who was fitted with a microphone and was asked for his view on the clash and its aftermath.

"It looked like he (Wells) moved his head and then stopped in a strategic place, but Mitch probably should have caught it as well," Blizzard told viewers on Network Ten's telecast tonight.

It was one of several moments in which McClenaghan featured during an eventful final spell, that saw the left-armer finish with 2-37 from his four overs.

On two occasions he sent the ball so wide it required Buttler to perform the role more often reserved for slip fielders, with the second of those producing a delivery that completely missed the cut surface and pitched on the adjacent strip that had been used for the second Ashes Test.

"If he aims for the light brown grass it's a good start," Ten commentator and Thunder Ambassador Mark Waugh said as McClenaghan was preparing to deliver his final ball.

But it was not only his width that was troubling McClenaghan who was battling to control the height at which they were reaching the batter and, as a consequence, the delivery that threatened the pitch next-door was called a no-ball rather than a wide.

He then found his direction but erred even closer to Lehmann's ribs with a ball that was ruled a fair delivery, but when the next one produced another full toss and the Strikers' left-hander holed out to deep midwicket it prompted an appeal from the batter instead of the bowler.

Lehmann was advised that video evidence can't be used to overrule an on-field call in relation to a waist-high full toss, and when third umpire scrutiny showed the catch had been fairly completed inside the field of play the batter was on his way.

McClenaghan said that while it was his plan to target the 'wide line' – the marked section of the batting crease that provides a guide for fair and unfair deliveries – it was his attempts to perfect a slower 'knuckle ball' that proved his undoing.

"Obviously, I didn't mean to bowl it off the pitch," he said. "It's a new ball I've been trying to bowl and I haven't bowled it around the wicket with the knuckle ball before.

"They've been coming out good, I just haven't done at the death (final over of an innings) around the wicket to left-hander, so live and learn and get better from it.

"I'm not fazed, I'm trying to push the boundaries of the wide line and I'd rather that than bowl inside the wide line and get it wrong and be in the slot."