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.
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.
Here is the incident of 'obstructing the field' that resulted in SAF batter Pillay given OUT #U19CWC pic.twitter.com/wK7vSSCNfi
— Gav Joshi (@Gampa_cricket) January 17, 2018
Sadly out.. 37.4
— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) January 17, 2018
But this this is now getting out of control in U19. Where is the “spirit of the game” code gone? https://t.co/WfNpqmyV17
The politically correct crew will say Rules are Rules ... Buts let be honest this is a disgraceful way to claim a wicket ... https://t.co/rH3vQaADnN
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 17, 2018
Technically the correct decision, but this type of dismissal is different from virtually all others in that the batsman is actually trying to help the fielding team rather than gain advantage. https://t.co/G3n9j0UxcW
— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) January 17, 2018
Reckon this is disgraceful. Ball has clearly stopped, batsman not taking any advantage, just doing the keeper a favour. If anyone reckons that's fair play our standards have dropped more than a little. https://t.co/CJGv9GHi3m
— Rohan Connolly (@rohan_connolly) January 17, 2018
Maybe you should stop doing it. Whether we like or not, it’s law in the game. As for spirit of the game, the players didn’t do anything wrong right? #healthydebate
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) January 17, 2018
It’s in the rule book so fair play.
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) January 17, 2018
Would give a warning first then if it happened again with the same player then maybe
— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) January 17, 2018
But as long as we let this ambiguity between rules and on field acts continue, were opening ourselves to the scourge of 'Spirit of Cricket' discussions. Nothing will be lost to the game if this 'helpful' habit of giving the ball back to the fielder dies.
— Snehal Pradhan (@SnehalPradhan) January 17, 2018
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.
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.