Penalty or Out?

[nazmulahsan]

The match is about at the end, nine wickets are down and one run is needed to win. The bowler bowls a wide delivery and the striker breaks his wicket in receiving the ball. There is an appeal from fielding side. What will be the umpires decision?

[sillypoint]

Law 25.3 says a Wide "…shall, however, be considered to have been a Wide from the instant of delivery". So you will signal Wide to the scorers and tell everyone the match is concluded, the Wide was the winning run, so the wicket doesn't count—even though he would have been out with less runs on the board. Finally, you tell the batter to go home and buy a lottery ticket; it is his lucky day!

[nazmulahsan]

But if you read Tom Smith's The Laws Of Cricket, in Law 35 Hit Wicket, it is clearly stated that it is an extra ordinary situation and it is decided that in this case wide will not count, and the striker will be given out. And fielding side will win by one run.

[gooders]

Ah, here we have another fantasy situation that is unlikely to happen in 10.000 games of cricket.
If the batting side need one run to win, also, then the fielding side cannot win, as the scores at that point are tied.
You are quite right in suggesting that it is an extraordinary situation, so extraordinary that it is unlikely that it will ever happen.

[igmc]

When I did my ACU&S course in 2003, we wondered why a Wide "…shall, however, be considered to have been a Wide from the instant of delivery".

Fortunately our tutor knew the redoubtable Sheila Hill, and asked her for an explanation. Her reply was that it was to address exactly the situation the original poster describes. So a one-wicket win for the batting side.

[sillypoint]

That is my understanding also. Wide is defined as applying from the moment of delivery in order to establish its priority in any situation where other possibilities also exist.

[duncanwalker]

Hi Nazmulahsan - I couldn't find the reference you mentioned in the Tom Smith book, so would be grateful if you could be more specific on the page / paragraph, together with which version please? Thanks

[zaump]

Jun 20, 2016 8:05:42 GMT gooders said:

Ah, here we have another fantasy situation that is unlikely to happen in 10.000 games of cricket.
If the batting side need one run to win, also, then the fielding side cannot win, as the scores at that point are tied.
You are quite right in suggesting that it is an extraordinary situation, so extraordinary that it is unlikely that it will ever happen.

I don't know about the likelihood of this specific scenario in practice, but I actually wouldn't be too surprised to see something similar. I'm sure many of us have seen batsmen at club level stumped off wides. It's not so uncommon that one can't imagine it happening with scores level.

Two international examples from 2010: Sri Lanka v India is an example of a result being triggered by an extra; with the scores tied, Sehwag on 99 hit a 6, except it was a no ball so the 6 didn't count and he was denied his century since the match was over at the moment the no ball was bowled. And in England v West Indies, Kieron Pollard was stumped off a wide for a 0-ball duck. These things happen.