Obstructing the field
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Obstructing the field is a rare method of dismissal in the sport of cricket.
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[edit] Definition
Law 37 of the Laws of cricket provides that:
"Either batsman is out Obstructing the field if he wilfully obstructs or distracts the opposing side by word or action. It shall be regarded as obstruction if either batsman wilfully, and without the consent of the fielding side, strikes the ball with his bat or person, other than a hand not holding the bat, after the ball has touched a fielder."
If the obstruction is accidental, then it is not wilful, and so the batsman cannot be given out Obstructing the field.
Paragraph 3 of the Law provides that:
"The striker is out should wilful obstruction or distraction by either batsman prevent a catch being made. This shall apply even though the striker causes the obstruction in lawfully guarding his wicket under the provisions of Law 34.3 (Ball lawfully struck more than once)."
This predecessor of this part of Law 37 was in point for the only such dismissal in Test match cricket. Len Hutton, when playing for England against South Africa in 1951 at the Oval when a ball hit his bat handle and popped up. As the ball came down toward his stumps, he hit it away, obstructing the wicketkeeper Russell Endean from taking the catch. Coincidentally, Russell Endean was the first man given out handled the ball in a Test match.
[edit] Other provisions of Law 37
If either batsman is out 'obstructing the field', any runs completed before the offence, together with any penalty extras and the penalty for a No ball or Wide are still scored, except when the offence stopped a catch being caught when only penalties are still scored.
The bowler does not get credit for the wicket.
[edit] History
Cricket is often considered to be a rather gentle pastime but it has a history of extreme violence. In its early days, before the modern rules had universal effect, batsmen could go to almost any lengths to avoid being out. They could obstruct the fielders and they could hit the ball as many times as necessary to preserve their wicket. This had fatal consequences on more than one occasion and, ultimately, strict rules were introduced to prevent the batsman from physically attacking the fielders.
In 1622, several parishioners of Boxgrove, near Chichester in west Sussex, were prosecuted for playing cricket in a churchyard on Sunday 5 May. There were three reasons for the prosecution: one was that it contravened a local bye-law; another reflected concern about church windows which may or may not have been broken; the third was that "a little childe had like to have her braines beaten out with a cricket batt"!
The latter situation was because the rules at the time allowed the batsman to hit the ball more than once and so fielding near the batsman was very hazardous, as two later incidents drastically confirm.
In 1624, a fatality occurred at Horsted Keynes in east Sussex when a fielder called Jasper Vinall was struck on the head by the batsman, Edward Tye, who was trying to hit the ball a second time to avoid being caught. Mr Vinall is thus the earliest known cricketing fatality. The matter was recorded in a coroner’s court, which returned a verdict of misadventure.
In 1647, another fatality was recorded at Selsey, west Sussex, when a fielder called Henry Brand was hit on the head by a batsman trying to hit the ball a second time.
We do not know when the rules were changed to outlaw striking for the ball a second time or when the offence of obstructing the field was introduced, but both those rules were clearly stated in the 1744 codification of the Laws of Cricket, which were drawn up by the London Cricket Club and are believed to be based on a much earlier code that has been lost.
[edit] Unusual dismissal
It is very unusual for a batsman to get out 'obstructing the field'. There are only 4 examples in international cricket.
Len Hutton is the only man given out this way in Test cricket. In one-day internationals, Rameez Raja (for Pakistan against England at Karachi in 1987) was given out for hitting the ball away with his bat to avoid being run out going for his century off the last ball of the innings, and Mohinder Amarnath (for India against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1989) was given out for kicking the ball away to avoid being run out. The latest batsman to be given out this way is Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan in the first ODI of India vs Pakistan Hutch Cup on February 6, 2006. After driving a ball to mid off, Indian Suresh Raina threw a ball back at the striker's end, which Inzamam stopped with his bat. Umpire Simon Taufel gave him out as he was in the line of the stumps and out of his crease.
Mohinder Amarnath is also one of only 2 batsmen to have been given out handled the ball in one-day internationals.
