Leicestershire were hit with a five-run penalty during the opening fixture of their Bob Willis Trophy campaign against Lancashire after Dieter Klein hit an opposition batsman with a “dangerous” throw.

Klein was judged to have infringed Law 42, which was brought in during 2017 to deal with poor player behaviour. The specific clause broken was 42.3.1, which concerns “throwing the ball at a player… in an inappropriate or dangerous manner”. This is deemed a Level 2 offence, resulting in a five-run penalty.

The incident occurred in the 104th over of the innings, with Lancashire’s Danny Lamb the batsman involved. The No.8 would eventually frustrate the Foxes for over an hour and a half at Worcestershire’s New Road ground, and after driving the ball straight back to Klein, was struck by a powerful return throw from the South Africa-born Germany international.

Lamb dropped his bat and hopped towards square leg, and the umpires awarded five penalty runs to Lancashire for the transgression.

Opinion on social media was split over whether the punishment was fair. One Twitter user justified Klein’s actions, saying “he is allowed to throw the ball at the stumps”. But another described the incident as “indicative of modern cricket” and “a total needless act”.

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