Sydney, Nov. 11 (ANI): A rising era of 'killer' modern bats is behind the significant decline in caught and bowled dismissals in the sport of cricket.

It comes after Peter Siddle missed a return catch, which could have dismissed unflappable South African Hashim Amla, then on 74, in Friday's Gabba clash.

Siddle had done everything right, producing a well-disguised slower ball, but it came back at him with such interest that he could not wrap his hands around it, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

According to the paper, former Test paceman Geoff Lawson attributes the decline in the caught and bowled dismissals to more powerful bats, which he calls "bowler killers".

"The ball got there too quick. It was a mis-hit, but mis-hits are getting to the bowlers, who are only 12 metres from the bat, so quick that guys are just getting two fingers on them. Someone is going to get killed sooner or later, at this level where the guys hit the ball that hard. We've seen so many times, the ball just whistles past their head," he said.

Expressing sympathy for Siddle, he said today's bowlers were in constant danger because of the extra rebound factor in bats, the paper said.

"There might be a few caught and bowleds when it just lobs up in the air, and a couple of reflex one-handers, but it's obvious to me that we're not seeing [as many return catches]," he said.

Return catches accounted for 3.2 per cent of all dismissals in Test cricket up to 1987, and 2.27 per cent between 2000 and 2012. That is a decline of about 30 per cent, the paper added. (ANI)