There was a moment of controversy in Namibia’s victory over Ireland in the penultimate game of the first round of the T20 World Cup, with suggestions that Kevin O’Brien’s catch to dismiss Zane Green should have been struck off due to an infringement in the field.
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The dismissal occurred with the game in the balance, Namibia placed at 73-1 in their chase of 125.
At the moment the catch was taken, O’Brien was a distance outside the 30-yard circle and the commentary team questioned whether the Irishman had been inside the circle at the time of the delivery. If he was not, rather than the delivery having resulted in a wicket, it should have been given as a no-ball and a free hit to Namibia.
As a replay of the wicket was shown with Kevin O’Brien in the background, seemingly with only one foot inside the circle at the time of delivery, Simon Doull commented: “That’s the shot right there. The feet were not inside the circle. That’s what I was talking about. He was outside the circle there, you can just see the feet not inside.
“It’s pretty tight, but we’ve seen it on a couple of occasions today. Gets away with it does Kevin O’Brien. Another good catch though. Still got to take them.”
Harsha Bhogle continued on the same point: “It’s worth having a re-look at that”, said Bhogle, “just watching him now he’s at mid-off. Just trying to stay as close to the circle as possible.
“Now let’s see where he is. Is his left foot marginally in? I think you’ve got to see where he was as the ball was bowled. Because maybe he can take a step back, he can take two or three steps back which has allowed him to get to it.”
The issue of whether fielders are in the circle or not at the time of delivery is not a new one, with prominent cricket writer Jarrod Kimber commenting on the fact that it is often overlooked and rarely checked.
And quite often players positions need to be checked on white ball dismissals, and we rarely look.
In this case it was the catcher, but I've seen others do it and the ball is still a dismissal, but it should have been a no ball but no one was checking out short third.
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) October 22, 2021
Namibia went on to win the match comfortably by eight wickets, although the potential ramifications had Ireland won this match and qualified off the back of a wicket that arguably shouldn’t have counted has drawn attention to the issue.
The current ICC playing conditions state that, “no more than 5 fielders shall be permitted outside the fielding restriction area referred to in clause 28.7.3 above.”
Clause 28.7.3 refers to the fact players must not be outside the circle, “at the point of delivery”. However, it is not clear whether a player who has one foot inside and one foot outside the circle would be considered in breach of this regulation.
The tournament regulations allow for the TV umpire to check for no-balls of all types after a wicket has fallen.
Watch O’Brien’s catch:
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