A hugely controversial incident took place in the English County Championship during a match between Leicestershire and Hampshire. Hampshire amassed a score of 612/5 in the first innings while Leicestershire only managed to score 202. The incident happened in the 25th over when Liam Dawson beat the outside edge of Hassan Azad’s bat and wicketkeeper Lewis McManus dislodged the bails with his left hand.
However, Later on, footage showed that the ball was in McManus’s right hand, but he dislodged the bails with his other hand. The Umpire gave that out without any consultation. However, the law regarding the same states, “The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps … by a fielder with his/her hand or arm, providing that the ball is held in the hand or hands so used, or in the hand of the arm so used.”
Can you spot the issue here?#CountyCricket2021 pic.twitter.com/RUxIz4o31z
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 10, 2021
In a statement against the incident, Leicestershire CCC chief executive Sean Jarvis said, “For everyone at Leicestershire, the behavior displayed by Hampshire was extremely disappointing and has no place in the game. I have written to the ECB following the completion of this fixture. That is to express the concerns and disappointment of what happened. I hope we can resolve this matter quickly. We need to move on from the incident.”
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On the other hand, Leicestershire head coach Paul Nixon added: “We were disappointed with what happened and we have spoken to the match referee. It is something we do not want to see in our game. I have never seen it before in all my years of cricket, and we will wait to see how the ECB handle it.”
Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan Tweeted about this incident saying it was poor for the game. In the current circumstances, a player shouldn’t get away after cheating in County cricket.
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Vaughan had tweeted, “Very poor this but I hope it is a lesson to him … All county games are now streamed so you can not get away with anything …”
Very poor this but I hope it’s a lesson to him … All county games are now streamed so you can’t get away with anything … https://t.co/imXxtvKTKu
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 11, 2021
