CRICKET’S FUNNY FLUKES

Evening Star, Issue 17544, 27 December 1920, Page 3

CRICKET’S FUNNY FLUKES

■ It is curious how Rule 24 in cricket has sent many a man back to the pavilion through uo fault of his own. Rule 24 says that obstruction by any part of the person entails dismissal. One of the hardest cases of tho kind on record occurred during a matche between Derbyshire and Yorkshire, when Cadman, who was playing for the former county! was struck on the neck by the hall and given out (i Log before wicket.” In another professional match a batsman struck out at the ball, and the force of the shot splintered a piece off the edge of the bat, which flew up and neatly snicked off the bails. The batsman was given out —“ hit wicket ” being the verdict. A similar incident to this occurred, in a match between Sussex and Surrey, when a batsman, lifting his bat to strike, discovered that the binding round the handle had become unfastened. Before he realised it the loose binding dislodged a bail and he was sent back, to the pavilion. Not always, however, have batsmen been unlucky. For instance, whilst playing in a Middlesex v. Surrey match at the Oval Stoddart was stumped in the first innings; but as the bails held firm he was given “not out.” He was stumped again in the second innings, but once more the hails favored him. In a match in Australia the varnish on the bails had’ become so affected that it caused them to stick to the wicket, and the ball, striking the stumps when the batsman had still to reach his crease, failed to remove the bails. The batsman was given “not out” by the umpire.