The Shaded Bricks - 5 Unknown Laws of Cricket

3. Forfeiture:

There is a provision in the Law 14 which vividly explains of the fact that a batting captain can forfeit the entire innings without batting a single delivery. Literally, this did happen in international Cricket. In a test match between South Africa and England in January, 2000, South Africa were poised at around 155 for the loss of 6 wickets in the first day when rain sneaked in. South Africa had already won the series 2-0 and it was the third test of the series. Rain washed out the entire of the next three days of the test and it called for an imminent draw. But, the then captain of South Africa, Hansie Cronje had something different in mind. He made a pact with the English captain, Nasser Hussain that South Africa would declare their innings after reaching around 250 and England and South Africa would forfeit one of their innings and England would have to chase it in the fourth innings. The English team agreed to it and ultimately they won the match by 2 wickets, chasing 251 runs after forfeiting their first innings which was followed by the forfeiture of the second innings of South Africa.