Why do batters have to face an extra ball?

If Liam Dawson had taken that catch, England would've actually benefited from Carse's error.

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Liam Dawson dropped a catch today and it made me think of something that kind of is and isn’t related to it. It all started when Shubman Gill was following a wide one from Brydon Carse, and Dawson was taken by surprise.

The ball came off the bat maybe a little bit quicker than he thought, or found him a little bit quicker. And he never really got himself into the right position to take that catch. So, he misses the chance.

Of course, on a day like today when there weren’t actually that many other chances or moments, it's kind of all you can think about. And there is a point, if you go back and watch, you could see that it was coming a little quick. While it was flying, it actually feels like Liam Dawson sort of struggled to pick it up and didn't quite get himself in the ideal spot.

But to really understand this, you need to go two balls back. Brydon Carse's over had actually already finished, and Liam Dawson was bowling at the other end. So when the six balls were delivered, he went and picked up the ball and started heading off towards the crease.

Then the no ball call came. So that meant that Brydon Carse had to repeat the ball and Dawson had to go back to field. The seventh ball is delivered. Again, he was heading over and getting ready to bowl his next over, only for it to be another no ball.

So twice Dawson thought the over was finished, and was walking and thinking about what he was going to do with the ball. And twice he had to worry about fielding. And the eighth ball of the over - that no one was really expecting - was the one where Liam Dawson drops the catch.

Is it possible that he just wasn't as switched on as he normally would be? Because it's very rare to have a no ball on the last ball of an over, and it's even rarer to have two no balls at the end.

He absolutely should have taken this catch, but he didn't. And it would be hard to say that his mind was completely on that ball. It was a ball that wasn't supposed to be bowled, after another ball that wasn't supposed to be bowled.

And he wasn't the only one who made a mistake off this final delivery, because Shubman Gill also thought that the over had finished. Instead, almost the entire Test finished for him. The match might have already been over if the catch was taken. All because he had to face two extra deliveries from Brydon Carse. What would've happened if he just didn't want to face them?