Laws of Cricket Question 1

Simon · Laws of Cricket Question 1

The bowler aggravates a pre-existing injury during his run up to bowl the third ball of his over and has to leave the field. The fielding captain asks to bring on a spectator as substitute to complete the over. The captain of the batting team objects to the opposition bringing on the spectator as substitute as the captain recognises him as a player that plays in a much higher league.

Mark

substitute fielders arent allowed to bat bowl or keep wicket......

Jules

Substitutes should be at the captains' discretion so I think the umpire shouldn't allow a substitute on at all - particularly as it was a pre-existing injury.

DavidU

Obviously no batting or bowling etc..., and I'm assuming at village level everything should be with 'both' captains agreement. But should it be no substitution at all until the end of the over ?

Simon

Well done to the three of you that went for the third answer - Allow the substitute to come on and field but not bowl at all.

There were a lot of things to consider in this question so I will go through them one by one.

The injury - Aggravating a pre-existing injury is an acceptable reason for the umpire to allow a substitute. As the bowler had bowled two balls of his over you can be satisfied that the injury had been agravated and worsened as a result of his bowling.

Permission - If the Umpire is satisfied that the injury (or illness) is genuine and that it occured (or was aggravated) after nomination of players (or the start of the match if players aren't nominated) then the opposition team have no right of objection, therefore the opposition captains objection is rejected out of hand.

Bowling - All of you correctly identified that a substitute cannot bowl. Incidently they cannot bat, keep wicket or captain the side.

Higher League player - I am not aware of any restrictions on who the substitute is as their name is not officially recorded (so therefore cannot be checked). However, technically if the fielding side tried to bring on an exceptional fielder then the Umpire may deem this to be against the spirit of the game and and refuse the request but allow a more appropriate substitute to field. For that reason then technically answer five (not allow the spectator to field but allow and alternative) could be an acceptable decision.