South African batsman Jiveshan Pillay was controversially given out for obstructing the field – the official parlance for handling the ball – during a match against West Indies in the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

The incident occurred in the 17th over of South Africa’s innings when they were at 77/2 after batting first. The left-hander tried to slash Jarion Hoyte through the covers but got an inside edge that hit his pads and dropped close to the stumps.

Pillay managed to stop the ball from hitting the stumps with his bat. He then picked the ball up after it became motionless and passed it to the wicketkeeper Emmanuel Stewart, who then appealed. The umpires discussed the incident for a while before referring it to the television umpire.

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After looking at replays, the television umpire had no choice but to give it out as Pillay had breached law 37.4 of the gentleman’s game, which states that, “Either batsman is out obstructing the field if, at any time while the ball is in play and, without the consent of a fielder, he uses the bat or any part of his person to return the ball to any fielder.”

As Pillay walked off in disbelief, the dismissal ignited a debate on social media on spirit of cricket versus laws of cricket. While some felt that the West Indies’ appeal went against the spirit of the game, others said Pillay should have known better than to touch the ball while in play.

Stewart later admitted that the appeal “wasn’t in the spirit of the game”, adding that if he could do it again he would withdraw his appeal.

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South Africa U19 coach Lawrence Mahatlane also said that his team had no complaints. “Our take is very simple,” he said after the end of South Africa’s innings. “We play to the laws of the game, and it’s part of the laws. It’s happened so hopefully we’ll learn for a long time from it.”

Luckily for South Africa, the dismissal did not affect the result as they posted 282/8 on the board before bowling West Indies out for 208.