Professor Proves Anatomically That Jonty's Hand Is Quicker Than The Eye (18 Feb 1997)

18 February 1997

Wits professor proves anatomically that Jonty`s hand is quicker than the eye

Michael Shafto

Dr Phillip Tobias, Wits University`s professor emeritus of anatomy, believes Jonty Rhodes` spectacular catch to dismiss Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar at Kingsmead on Wednesday night was a fair catch, and he can prove it anatomically.

Did the ball touch the ground as several experts, including England great Geoff Boycott, believe? Not so, says Tobias, a cricket lover and a self-confessed fan of Rhodes.

"You have to look at the photographs in The Star," he said.

Now let the professor, famous for his many ground-breaking anthropological finds, take over: "Examine the fourth photograph carefully and what you will see is this: it shows him touching down after his short-powered flight. It also shows very distinctly the index finger, middle finger and ring finger of his right hand. Beneath them one sees the little finger bent away from the viewer, passing inwards and therefore certainly beneath the ball.

"If one assumes that Jonty has the fashionable five fingers on each hand, then the little fingers must have kept the ball from contact with the ground. Even the right little finger alone, which can be seen on the photo, would have been sufficient to hold the ball up and prevent it from hitting the deck."

It is part of the miracle of the human hand, said Tobias, that the little finger can be flexed away from the other fingers and so can provide support, "for example to the base of a whisky glass or the under-surface of a cricket ball"!

Source :: The Star