Big Bash boundary line catch shows Australian players unaware of October 2013 update to Laws of Cricket
Cameron White's dismissal in Saturday night's KFC T20 Big Bash League sparked a thousand pub and lounge room debates around Australia and had cricket nuffies diving for the rule books.
Sydney Thunder's Josh Lalor took the catch, jumping over the boundary rope in the act, but crucially did not touch the ground beyond the boundary and the ball at the same time.
Stars supporters reacted with cries and tweets of 'Six!' while Network Ten's Big Bash League commentary crew lead by Mark Waugh and Andrew Flintoff, confidently called it out and gave Lalor the plaudits he was due for a clever catch and impressive boundary-line awareness.
Stars captain White protested and the on-field umpires consulted with the third umpire and there was a delay while the decision was confirmed.
The Laws of Cricket were updated in October 2013 to make catches like that from Lalor legal. It may be of some concern to team administrators, and indeed those in the national set-up with the ICC Cricket World Cup fast approaching, that so many seemed unaware of the rule change. Certainly Big Bash clubs will be making sure their players are aware.
Lalor wasn't the first man to take a catch in this manner.Black Caps gun fielder Trent Boult dismissed West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard in a similar – if more athletically spectacular manner – in a T20 in Dominica in July last year.
When the Thunder's Lalor backpedalled under White's skied shot at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night, he took the catch and then threw the ball into the air as his momentum took him back over the rope. He then jumped – and this is the crux of the confusion – from beyond the boundary line to re-take the ball, landing with his feet back in the field of play.
Clause '19.4 Ball beyond the boundary' of the Laws of Cricket was updated in October 2013 for the explosion in boundary-line athleticism brought about by Twenty20 cricket. Under this clause, the catch is legal.
As long as the ball doesn't touch the ground beyond the boundary rope, or is touched by a player that is touching ground beyond the boundary rope, it is deemed to still be in play.
As with White's dismissal, Boult's catch of Pollard's also sparked confusion amongst those watching. And as with Lalor's effort, Boult's catch stood.
Boult grabbed onto the hook-shot from Pollard within one-handed in his right hand as he ran backwards. With his momentum taking him over the rope, he flung the ball back up into the air before coming to a stop beyond the boundary line.
From there, with his feet beyond the rope, he leapt into the air, completed the catch and landed back in the field of play.
With the ICC Cricket World Cup now just 26 days away, athletic boundary-line fielding could take on a new dimension in the 50-over game's showpiece event.
And teams would do well to make sure their players are well briefed on what is legal.
Although both Boult and Lalor ended up on losing sides in their respective matches, a catch like this could be the difference between winning and losing in the World Cup due to start next month.
One of Australia's elite outfielders, Glenn Maxwell, tweeted he believed the catch should not have stood.
Whether the current interpretation of Law 19.4 is the correct one or not, is open to further debate.
As Maxwell pointed out on his twitter account, taking the wording to the extreme could result in some comical situations.
Under the current Laws, Maxwell's scenario, while bizarre and would require a fielder to brazenly take the mick, it would indeed be out.
The Stars allrounder, who was watching on TV while on duty with the national team for the Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series, later tweeted he was "happy to be proven wrong" but did not agree with the rule change.
White was aggrieved by the decision as well. "My understanding of the rules is that was six runs," he said when asked by the Network Ten commentators soon after his dismissal.
