Watch: Calamity ensued at the ILT20 as a wayward ball bowled by Sheldron Cottrell looped high and away from the pitch before Tom Kohler-Cadmore walked out of his crease and dispatched the ball to the boundary before it had even landed.
The ball was so off target, that if Kohler-Cadmore had allowed it to drop, it would have landed closer to the next pitch along on the playing square than that of its intended target.
Despite executing his shot well and dispatching the ball to the boundary for a one-bounce four, sadly for Kohler-Cadmore the umpire signalled for a no ball followed by calling the ball dead, instead of allocating a boundary.
The relevant ruling comes from law 21.8, which states that if,once the ball delivered, it “is so far from the pitch that the striker would need to leave the pitch to attempt to play the ball, without having previously touched the bat or person of the striker, the umpire shall call and signal No ball and immediately call and signal Dead ball.”
Kohler-Cadmore would therefore only be able to score runs if the delivery had remained straight, and he hadn’t been forced to leave the pitch to make contact with the ball.
The extra ball didn’t make a difference in the end though as Cottrell’s Desert Vipers easily chased a target of 146 for the loss of three wickets off 16.4 overs. Alex Hales top-scored with 83* off 52 balls.
Watch Tom Kohler-Cadmore smash wayward ball before it is called dead:
.@virendersehwag paaji, aise #Bawaal 🎁s toh hume bhi chahiye! 😉
TKC accepts Cottrell's gift with open arms! #DVvSW #CricketOnZee #BawaalMachneWalaHai #HarBallBawaal #DPWorldILT20 @tomkohlerreal pic.twitter.com/mLZCS5kwWH
— Zee Cricket (@ilt20onzee) January 15, 2023