HZ. Cricket Council Upholds Umpire

Northern Advocate, 7 January 1948, Page 3

HZ. Cricket Council Upholds Umpire

The New Zealand Cricket Council has replied to the Whangarei Association’s request for a ruling on an incident. which occurred in a senior club match at Kensington Park some weeks ago. An Albion batsman had played a ball close to the boundary. An Onerahi fieldsman picked it up and as he swung his arm back to return the ball to the wicket-keeper, it slipped from his hand and rolled over the boundary behind him. The umpire signalled a four, but his decision was queried as the batsman had run three and some considered that the striker was entitled to seven runs from the stroke. The fact that the ball was involuntarily put over the boundary by the fieldsman proved the deciding factor, i The rule quoted in the Northern Advocate which the council ruled applied in the case under discussion, was: “The runs which have been arranged for a boundary hit are to be added to the runs already made should a j fieldsman wilfully cause the ball to j reach the boundary. If, however, the fieldsman involuntarily causes the ball to reach the boundary, only the value of the boundary shall be credited to the striker.”