Josh Hazlewood and the case of the missing finger

The raised finger of the umpire has always been the death knell for batsmen, but it was the case of a missing finger that had the cricket world talking.

A photo of in-form Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood appeared to show him with just four fingers on his bowling hand.

Take a look at Hazlewood's right hand. (Getty Images)

Surely this can’t be right, people thought out loud. Had the image been photoshopped? What was going on here?

Getty Images photographer Matt King solved the riddle when he went back and looked at the frames either side of the one that make it look as though Hazlewood was missing a digit.

Cricket fans everywhere were quickly put at ease – all that happened was Hazlewood’s ring and pinky fingers had lined up in a manner that made it was as one.

Here is the different frame of the picture of Josh Hazlewood. (Getty Images) 

The photo below shows just how easily that could have happened.

"I went back to the original file and checked it and yeah, the finger was missing. I couldn't work [out] it where it had gone," King told Cricket.com.au.

With all five of the fingers on his right hand working a treat, Hazlewood claimed 15 wickets in the Test series clean sweep of Pakistan.