Umpires Corner: Confusing over and no balls | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

Umpires Corner: Confusing over and no balls

This edition of Umpires Corner in association with the International Institute of Cricket Umpiring and Scoring covers some more tricky questions of the Laws.

Many times on the pitch (and after the game) we have come to discuss whether a controversial situation should be allowed or not. There are precious few players with a deep enough understanding of the laws for our arguments to be resolved, but many times it's the players who also act as umpires.  Now we can consult a team of expert experienced umpires for the answers to those tricky questions.

You can submit your own questions to the umpires here.

Confusing over

 

"The game was a limited overs match with a maximum five overs allowance for each bowler. The opening bowler bowled the first ball, and then promptly had an asthma attack. Another bowler had to finish the over. This is when the fun started. According to the umpire, each bowler had now ‘bowled’ one over of his five-over allowance. So, two overs had apparently been ‘bowled’, yet only six balls had actually been delivered. Confused? You bet we were!"

 

The umpire was right. Had the man who finished off the incomplete first over been permitted to go on to bowl a full five over spell he would then, obviously, have bowled a total of five overs and five balls, which would have exceeded his legal allowance under the playing conditions for this match. None of this would have affected the total number of overs actually received by the other side, of course.

Law 22.8 The over (Open Learning Manual Page 72)

Why is he no-balled?

 

"We have a very good leg-break and googly bowler, whose run-up to the wicket, like many spin bowlers, curves in from around the area of mid-off. Why is he prone to being no-balled by umpires, when it is quite obvious that his front foot lands well behind the line of the popping crease?"”

 

Assuming the umpire wasn’t calling your team-mate for throwing, you have to ask where the bowler’s back foot was landing. In the delivery stride, his back foot must land within and not touching the return crease, which is the inside of the white lines at right angles to, and running back either side from, the popping crease. This can be quite a common problem with bowlers with angled or curved run-ups.

Law 24.5 No ball (Open Learning Manual Page 77)

Remember you can submit your own umpiring and scoring questions here.

 

 

 



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Comments

Overs bowled - 50 over match

bowler 1 bowls 5 complete overs then in 6th over comes off injured. whats recorded.
bowler 2 bowls 4 overs
bowler 3 & 4 bowl 10 overs each
bowler 5 had bowled 6 overs then came on to finish 4 balls of 1's unfinished and then completes another full over after.
bowler 6 bowls 8.4 overs (10th wicket on 4th ball)

How many overs should be written down in scorebook,what should be written for total overs for bowler 1 and bowler 5??

Here is an answer from the IICUS:

1) If no restrictions on the number of over's a bowler can bowl then it would be shown in his analysis as what he actually bowled shown in red

2) If restrictions on number of over a bowler can bowl then a part over would count as 1 completed over for each bowler therefore the total number of over's bowled as shown in the score would be one more than actually bowled shown in blue

3) Scorer should make a note in the margin to this effect. The reason it counts as a completed over in a match with restrictions on overs a bowler can bowl is that the total number of overs he can bowl must not exceed that number he is allowed to bowl ie. 10 not 10.2.

For the purposes of the quota of overs per Bowler, Bowler 1 would have to be regarded as bowling 6 overs, and Bowler 5 as bowling 7 overs. So therefore the total number of overs bowled during the innings would be 6+4+10+10+7+8.4 (by Bowler 6) = 45.4 overs.