QUERIES ABOUT LAWS OF CRICKET

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1935, Page 12

QUERIES ABOUT LAWS OF CRICKET

Points On Which Decisions Are Seldom Required A correspondent who signs himself “Cricket,” has written to. us seeking answers to three questions. He does not say whether or not the questions have arisen from actual incidents in matches. ... x The first question is: Is a batsman out caught off his hand when that hand is not in contact with his bat?” Our answer to this is that No. 22 of the Laws of Cricket governs the point sufficiently for players who look upon these laws as providing a standard of conduct for a game, not an exercise in mental gymnastics. This particular law savs that the striker is out “if the bail, from a stroke of the bat or hand, but not the wrist, be held before it touch the ground. . . .” So if one of the batsman’s hand slips off the handle of the bat while he is making a stroke, and the ball hits that hand and is caught, he is out, because even though it has slipped the movement of the hand is part of the'“stroke of the bat or hand.” If, however, our correspondent is trying to visualise an incident in which a man who has two hands is holding the bat with only one, and the hand which is idle is hit by the ball, which is then caught, we would suggest to him that the legislators of cricket have something better to do than to legislate for such freakishness, and that, in any case, such a batsman deserves to be out! ' The second question is: “If the wicketkeeper’s hand is in front of the wicket when the striker is bowled, is the striker out? The answer is: No. Law 42 is specific on this noint. It says: “The wicketkeeper shall stand behind the wicket. If he shall take the ball for the purpose of stumping before it has passed the wicket, or if he shall incommode the striker by any noise or motion, dr if any part of his person be over or before the wicket, the striker shall be not out, excepting under Laws 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.” The exceptions are “obstrucing the field” (Laws 26 and 30 govern different aspects of this misdemeanour), “hitting the ball twice,” “run out.” and “handled the ball.” So the principle is that the striker is not to be given out, even if he is bowled, when the wicketkeeper has any part of himself in front of the wicket, unless the striker has committed a breach of the rules. As Law 42 is so plain it is difficult to understand why this question is asked by anyone who possesses, or has access to, a copy of the Laws of Cricket. The third question is a variation of the first. It is “The striker raises his left hand to guard his face from a rising ball, which strikes his hand and then is caught; would he be out if his left hand was not in contact with his bat?” The answer is: Yes. The action of guarding the face comes within the scope of Law 22. already quoted—“if the ball, from a stroke of the . . . hand, but not the wrist, be held If the umpire be in doubt about whether or not the batsman has made a stroke of the hand in such a case as is put he may give the man out under Law 29. which says that the striker is out “if he touch with his hands or take up the ball while in play, unless at the request of the opposite side.”