There were three separate incidents of teams receiving a five-run penalty for batters running on the danger area on the pitch at the ICC Women’s World T20 on Sunday, bringing into focus a rule that is not often talked about.
First, Pakistan were penalised twice during their seven-wicket loss to India, which cost them a total of 10 penalty runs and 2 more runs discounted from their score, before Ireland were docked five runs in their nine-wicket defeat by Australia.
India were also given a friendly warning to not run on the pitch, according to Player of the Match Mithali Raj. “Well, yes, we were told before getting in to bat that those 10 runs were because the Pakistan batters were running on the danger end and they were warned. So were we, but we didn’t get to that point. We were aware of it,” she said.
Three such incidents in a day at an ICC event resulted in a lot of chatter about rules and umpires discretion.
Pakistan themselves were guilty of it against Sri Lanka earlier this year, as captain Javeria Khan said after the match.
In the more recent past, the Indian men’s cricket team were handed a five-run penalty after Ravindra Jadeja got a second warning for running on the pitch during the Indore Test against New Zealand in 2016. Tamil Nadu were also penalised five runs for running on the pitch in a Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai in 2017.
As per rules, umpires warn the offenders and only after repeated offense, are runs docked. Also, the bowlers are mostly on the receiving end, for running on the pitch in their follow through.
Here’s what the MCC official rules say:
41.14.2 If either batsman causes deliberate or avoidable damage to the pitch, other than as in 41.15, at the first instance the umpire seeing the contravention shall, when the ball is dead, inform the other umpire of the occurrence. The bowler’s end umpire shall then
- warn both batsmen that the practice is unfair and indicate that this is a first and final warning. This warning shall apply throughout the innings. The umpire shall so inform each incoming batsman.
- inform the captain of the fielding side and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of what has occurred.
41.14.3 If there is any further instance of avoidable damage to the pitch by any batsman in that innings, the umpire seeing the contravention shall, when the ball is dead, inform the other umpire of the occurrence.
The bowler’s end umpire shall
- disallow all runs to the batting side
- return any not out batsman to his/her original end
- signal No ball or Wide to the scorers if applicable.
- award 5 Penalty runs to the fielding side.
- award any other 5-run Penalty that is applicable except for Penalty runs under Law 28.3 (Protective helmets belonging to the fielding side).
- Inform the captain of the fielding side and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of the reason for this action.
The umpires together shall report the occurrence as soon as possible after the match to the Executive of the offending side and to any Governing Body responsible for the match, who shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the captain, any other individuals concerned and, if appropriate, the team.
At the Women’s World T20, this problem has come even into more focus given the eagle-eyed umpires. The best guess behind the logic is preserving the pitch, because there are back-to-back matches on the ground and the strip has to last for the 40, and even 60 overs on the opening day.
According to ESPNcricinfo, match officials were asked to be more vigilant about this before the start of the tournament. They discussed how to deal with running on the ‘danger zone’ which was perceived to be an issue in women’s cricket.
But not many agree with this assessment. Former India and England captains Anjum Chopra and Charlotte Edwards were against the penalty.
Chopra felt it was harsh given the stage it was at, especially on the last ball of the innings when batters are scrambling for a run, while Edwards was of the opinion that women’s cricket would not damage the pitch much in the first place.
But most players involved seemed to accept the stringent measures and said that the onus was on the players to be careful.
Pakistan captain Khan admitted that her team was at fault. “The umpires told me that after warning the players three times, they gave the penalties. It’s unprofessionalism on our part because we were warned. This has not happened the first time. It’s happened in the Sri Lanka series as well” she said after the match.
Ireland’s Kim Garth said that her team should have learned from Pakistan’s mistakes earlier in the day. “It is a bit unusual. But I’m kind of more surprised that I suppose we didn’t learn from it. And same with Pakistan. To do it once is criminal. But to do it twice is a bit of a brain explosion. And we definitely should have learned from that.”
Australia star Ellyse Perry had a lot more perspective to offer on the situation. “We spoke about it briefly before we started, just to be mindful of it and aware of it. I guess it’s one of those things that if there’s particular attention being paid to it by the umpires, we’ve really got to adhere to what they want the – or the way they want things to happen.”
Asked whether this added scrutiny was going to change things where coming down the wicket against slow bowlers was concerned, she disagreed.
“I think batters are well within their rights to come down to the pitch of the ball. I suppose it’s just after you play that shot being particularly aware of where your following steps are, maybe that’s something we can kind of practise a little bit at training. As I said, I don’t think there was any issues with us tonight. So I don’t see it being a big deal,” she added.
“I’ve never played in a tournament where this has been, I guess, a key issue. It seems to be in the first couple of matches. And that’s completely fine. That’s within the rules of cricket and something that they’re paying particular attention to.
I wonder if, to a degree, that’s also got to do with the fact that we’re playing a lot of games on these wickets and we probably need to be mindful of looking after them. And I think we want really good games of cricket. So we need good wickets for that. So I don’t see any issue with them paying close attention to it. As I said, I think it wasn’t an issue for us tonight, and it’s probably not going to be going forward,” Perry said.
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