Five runs were shaved off New Zealand’s target in the Sydney Test, as Australia were handed a five-run penalty by the on-field umpire, after the batsmen were found to be consistently running on the pitch.

The runs were added to the tourists’ first-innings total, taking it from 251, to 256. As a result, they were left chasing 416, rather than 421.

The incident occurred just before Australia declared their second innings on 217-2, briskly stacked up on the back of David Warner’s unbeaten ton and Marnus Labuschagne’s half-century, as the duo combined for a 110-run stand that saw them gather 45 runs in eight overs post lunch.

On the fourth ball of the 50th over, Labuschagne was given an official warning by on-field umpire Aleem Dar for treading on the protected area of the pitch while changing ends. Two balls later, Warner clipped a full delivery by Henry towards midwicket, and committed the same folly, necessitating Dar to penalise them five runs.

Under Law 41 of MCC’s rulebook stating ‘unfair play’, the protected area on a pitch is defined as ‘that area of the pitch contained within a rectangle bounded at each end by imaginary lines parallel to the popping creases and 5 ft/1.52 m in front of each, and on the sides by imaginary lines, one each side of the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps, each parallel to it and 1 ft/30.48 cm from it.’

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While the law [41.14.2] doesn’t come into focus too often, owing to the rarity of its breach, there have been notable incidents in the recent past when the batting team has been handed a five-run penalty.

So obscure is the law, that umpire Dar ended up beaming the wrong signal: Instead of just placing his hand on the other shoulder to award five runs to the fielding team, he tapped the shoulder, which in fact, is a signal for runs being awarded to the batting team.

During their Women’s T20 World Cup game in 2018 against India, Pakistan were given two separate five-run penalties for running on the pitch, while Ireland were also given a similar punishment in their game against Australia.

Speaking on Fox Cricket, former Australia skipper Allan Border conceded he was surprised that the umpires intervened much later than they should have, since a lot of runs earlier were exchanged through the protected zone.

“I reckon if you took a video of most runs taken, a lot of runs would be in the danger zone,” he said. “Not on purpose, it’s just where you end up hitting the ball and your take-off point. It’s a bit strange the umpires jumping in at this stage.”

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