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A batsman plays the ball and sets off for a run. A fielder gathers the ball and throws, at which point the batsman sticks out his / her bat, while running, and diverts the ball so that it goes over the boundary. The fielding side do not appeal for Obstructing the field. What should the umpire do?
This is a slightly tricky one. The act by the batsman is wilful, so the batsman is out Obstructing the field. However, he / she cannot be dismissed unless there is an appeal. The umpire should not call the ball Dead, nor do anything other to alert the fielding side. He / she should give the boundary as if this were simply a normal overthrows scenario.
However, should there then be an appeal before the ball is next live( when the bowler begins his / her run-up for the next delivery) or before Time is called, the umpire must give the batsman out and revoke the previous call.
While watching West Indies and Sri Lanka, I saw one of the West Indian batsmen had his forearm guard rolled over his batting gloves. The wristband of his gloves was almost covered by the forearm guard. In the event of an appeal for a catch result from his forearm guard which is attached to the gloves, what would be the decision? Is the batsman out caught?
Under Law 5, only the bat, or a hand holding the bat( or the glove on a hand holding the bat) is to be considered the bat. Slightly confusingly, this can mean that a hand which is not holding the bat, but is touching the other hand which is holding the bat, counts as a hand holding the bat( since the hand holding the bat is considered the bat, so the second hand is, thus, holding the bat as well).
However, the chain cannot extend any further to any other piece of equipment. An arm guard, even an arm guard touching the glove, is not included in this definition. The batsman cannot be out caught off an arm guard.
A batsman makes no attempt to play the ball with his bat, nor does he try to avoid being hit by the ball. It is clear that, under Law 26, Leg byes will not be allowed. Can the striker be credited with runs, however, if the ball after hitting the pad then comes into contact with his bat?
Law 24 explains what happens if a fielder is late or leaves the field( ie penalty time), but not if a batsman is late arriving. Does he also incur penalty time and would this preclude him from batting as per Law 25?
If the ball first hits the striker’ s bat, whether intentionally or not, then no question of Leg byes arises and play will proceed normally. If the ball first hits the striker’ s person, then( ignoring the chance that the striker may be out LBW), the umpire must consider whether, within these restrictions, Leg byes could be allowed or not. Note that later contact with the bat cannot alter a decision that runs are not to be allowed if no attempt to play or avoid the ball has been made.
Thus, if the first strike is with the person, rather than the bat, and there is no attempt to play the ball, then runs should not be allowed. Note, however, that the batsman can still be out caught in such a situation.
Penalty time is, broadly, about playing time off the field. Given that, at any given moment, nine batsmen will be off the field even if all are present, there can be no penalty time accrued while a team is batting( although it can be served during that time). Thus, a batsman who is late arriving is simply treated as not yet having come in – although if he / she is so late that there are no other available batsmen to come in then the innings will be at an end, and he / she will accrue penalty time with his / her side in the field.
Our thanks to Jonny Singer, MCC Laws of Cricket Advisor, for answering these questions.
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