Ken Gargett Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 The Bizarre Cricket Dismissal Which Has Umpires And Physicists Totally Stumped A strange game just got stranger. 09/05/2017 2:31 PM AEST | Updated 16 hours ago Anthony Sharwood Sports And Environment Editor, HuffPost Australia Mid Year Cricket Association Last weekend, on a cricket field in suburban Melbourne, something very strange happened. In a Mid Year Cricket Association match between Moonee Valley and Strathmore Heights, a batsman was bowled and the stumps ended up looking like this. Which was obviously very cool because of the sheer improbability of the bails being suspended with the middle stump out of the ground. Initial reactions of players were summed up by these lines from Moonee Valley captain Michael Ozbun in local paper the Moonee Valley Leader: "There was a little bit of debate and the umpire was a bit confused as well. Nobody had seen anything like that before. I was on the boundary, I saw the stumps fly and thought 'all right, he got bowled, it was a silly shot'. Then everybody was standing around the wickets and I didn't know why. I went out there, saw what was going on and it was very confusing." Which didn't really explain how two bails can suspend themselves without the support of a middle stump, but it did at least capture the general WTF mood. The really pressing issue was this: was it out? After all, everybody knows that the bails must be removed for a batsman to be out bowled. But is that really how it works? Ah, well a closer inspection of the Laws of Cricket shows that there's more to it than that. To be out bowled (or run out, or stumped), the stumps must be "put down", which sounds like a humane way to end a stump's life, but which, according to Law 28, means: "A wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the grounds by the ball, the striker's bat, the striker's person (or by any part of his clothing or equipment becoming detached from his person), a fielder (with his hand or arm, and provided that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used). See the bit we bolded? Yep, if the stump comes out of the ground, you're out -- regardless of what the bails do. So we can tell you without fear that the umpire got it right when he dismissed batsman Jatinder Singh. As for how the bails actually stayed on, we might need a scientist to explain what happened. In fact we just asked one. Keep ya posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gweilgi Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 A freak event, but kudos to the umpire for making the right call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzz Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Yep, I can see how the bails would be able to support each other without the middle stump. The bails are pushing against each other, with the thick part of the bails pushing against the stumps, so there is just enough support for the weight of the bails. Freak occurrence, but totally possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 I agree, the right call was made to dismiss the batsman, bowled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Gargett Posted May 9, 2017 Author Share Posted May 9, 2017 when keeping, i've had the ball go through the stumps once or twice. really freaky. and difficult to keep to, as it is the last thing you expect. you are starting to celebrate and then the ball is on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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