The Oval Invincibles were given a five-run penalty in the opening match of the 2024 Women's Hundred yesterday (July 23), after Marizanne Kapp threw the ball at Suzie Bates in her follow-through.
The incident happened during the second ball of Birmingham Phoenix's chase. Facing up to a short, wide delivery from Kapp, Bates tried to slap the ball down the ground but didn't time the shot. The ball went straight back to Kapp, who was already bent over in her follow through. After Kapp had gathered the ball, she immediately threw it at Bates, who was directly in front of the stumps and well behind the crease line.
The ball hit Bates' pads, which she put together to ensure the ball didn't go through onto the stumps. As Kapp turned to walk back to her mark, she was smiling at Bates who was also pictured laughing back. However, the umpires - Sue Redfern and Anna Harris - didn't take such a light view of the incident.
They signalled to the scorers to add five runs to Birmingham Phoenix's total, and called Oval Invincibles captain Lauren Winfield-Hill over to explain the decision. Both Kapp and Winfield-Hill looked less than impressed with the decision.
Under the MCC Laws, there are provisions for 'unacceptable on-field conduct'. Law 42.3.1 specifies that "throwing the ball at a player, umpire or another person in an immediate or dangerous manner" is a level two offence.
The penalty for this is specified under law 42.3.2: "The umpire shall award five penalty runs to the opposing team," and, "The umpire shall warn the offending player's captain that any future Level One offence by any member of his/her team shall result in the award of 5 penalty runs to the opposing team".
While Kapp's throw cannot be seen as 'dangerous', there is no provision in the laws for a non-dangerous throw. Equally, throwing the ball at the striker's end to keep a batter in their crease happens often, and umpires usually use their discretion to not award penalties when the throw is not considered dangerous.
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