Watch: West Indies captain Kieron Pollard’s team was reduced to 10 players on the field after he left his position at short-leg to stand behind the boundary for a free-hit.
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The incident occurred during the rescheduled second ODI between West Indies and Australia at Barbados. Australia, batting first, were reduced to 57-6 when Akeal Hosein began the 17th over, with players stationed near the bat for Matthew Wade and Mitchell Starc.
The second delivery of the over had to be re-bowled after the square-leg umpire noted that there were more fielders outside the inner circle than allowed. With a free-hit being signalled, Pollard, who was standing at short-leg, made his way past the boundary ropes.
Since the rules of a free-hit dictate that the field cannot be altered from the previous delivery, Pollard couldn’t have positioned himself somewhere else. With an expansive stroke expected from Starc for the free-hit, the skipper decided to stand outside than be in the line of fire.
As Pollard stood outside the field of play, helmet on head, the on-air commentator mentioned that he was out “from a safety standpoint”.
With West Indies reduced to ten men for the delivery, Starc swung the ball to the leg-side, right through the position where Pollard was stationed, but only managed to score two runs.
Australia managed to recover to post 187 on the board, but West Indies eased to a four-wicket win, recovering from a stutter of their own to level the series 1-1.
Watch the incident here:
https://twitter.com/mscmedia2/status/1419118131386077184
