Aussie domestic team first to fall foul of ICC law on fake fielding
MUMBAI: The ongoing JLT Cup in Australia provided the first instance where a new playing condition rule, released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently, was put into practice by the umpires.
Among the several playing condition rules released by cricket’s world governing body is the one to prevent “fake fielding”, which often creates doubts in the minds of batsmen, and may lead to their dismissal.
Playing for Queensland Bulls against Cricket Australia XI on Friday, Marnus Labuschagne’s “fake fielding” error saw the umpires adding five runs to CA XI’s total. In the 27th over of CA XI’s innings, Labuschagne dived but could not intercept the ball hit by Param Uppal. However, as the batsmen scurried for a run, he faked a throw towards the stumps. CA XI batman Clint Hinchliffe realised Labuschagne had faked the throw.
The umpire signalled for addition of five runs to CA XI, despite Labuschagne’s apology. Queensland Bulls were docked five penalty runs according to the new ICC rule of “intentionally deceiving or distracting a batsman”.