Watch: During the deciding contest between India and West Indies in 2014, a ball boy created controversy by stepping onto the cricket field and collecting the ball.
The series was played during the pay dispute between the West Indies players and WICB (as the CWI was known then), and eventually, the fourth ODI was deemed to be the final game of the tour. The series stood at 1-1 before this match.
This incident took place during the 38th over of the game. Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli had teamed up to provide India with a solid start and were continuing their onslaught against the West Indies bowlers. The side’s score stood at 205-2. Off the fourth ball of the over, Raina pulled a ball from Jerome Taylor towards the mid-wicket boundary.
Andre Russell tried to stop the ball but could only get a boot to it. The ball trickled towards the boundary before a ballboy stepped onto the field and stopped it. While he simply collected and passed it to Russell, the fielder was flabbergasted. West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo also seemed surprised at this.
Arun Lal, on-air, said: “The boy stopped it inside (the field), what will happen now? The West Indies skipper isn’t pleased.”
Bravo was seen in an animated chat with the umpires, even as Lal commented after viewing the replays that it was quite possible that the ball would have failed to make it to the boundary before the ball boy picked it up.
The ICC’s men’s standard playing conditions for ODIs has the clause 19.2.4 to deal with this exact scenario.
“If an unauthorised person enters the playing arena and handles the ball, the umpire at the bowler’s end shall be the sole judge of whether the boundary allowance should be scored or the ball be treated as still in play or called dead ball if a batsman is liable to be out as a result of the unauthorised person handling the ball.”
The umpires after consultation decided that no boundary was to be given in this case. Two runs, which the batters ran, were added to India’s total.
This incident was to have little bearing on the result of the game, as India went on to post 330 and won the game by 59 runs.
You can watch the incident here:
