WATCH: How two Renegades bowlers got suspended for protected pitch area violations in BBL 2025, Match 38
Renegades beat Heat by three wickets in the BBL encounter on Saturday.
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T20 cricket fever is still on as the Big Bash League (BBL 2024-25) is approaching its business end gradually. So far teams have had some intense battles in the tournament with some games going down to the wire. Amid entertainment through explosive batting by batters, there were also some unusual moments which also grabbed everyone's attention.
On Saturday, in a BBL match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades, a bizarre incident took place when the umpire removed two bowlers from bowling for violating pitch regulations. Notably, while bowling a bowler completes his follow-through ahead of the crease. But at times in doing so, they end up landing in the "danger area" which could impact the outcome of the game later on. Hence as per standard protocols, after giving fair warning at first, the officials can stop a bowler from bowling further.
Interestingly and as bizarre as it gets, very rarely do bowlers commit such mistakes to get penalized but the incident in the BBL encounter went a notch up when two Renegades bowlers were removed by the umpires in the same T20 game. Not just that, one of the bowlers was none other than the Captain of the Melbourne Renegades, Will Sutherland.
Will Sutherland (First Suspension)
After Brisbane Heat openers Nathan McSweeney and Jack Wood started cautiously in the first four overs. Then they started scoring briskly before McSweeney got out in the eighth over. However, Matt Renshaw continued the momentum. After the 10th over, Skipper Will Sutherland came to bowl in his second spell of the day, but it did not stop Renshaw from whacking him off for three sixes in tandem.
However, soon after that the umpire summoned Sutherland after he spotted him walking around the protected aka danger area on the bowler's end. As a result, the umpire removed the Renegades Captain from bowling further. Later on, Jack Brown was called up to complete the pending 11th over.
Fergus O'Neill (Second Suspension)
The cricket fraternity was up for a surprise when a similar incident happened yet again. Four overs after Sutherland's bowling suspension, this time it was the turn of Fergus O'Neill. He too ended up walking in the danger area. Consequently, the umpire felt it was an intentional move and took no time in removing O'Neill from bowling any further.
Also Check: David Warner defends Tom Curran over BBL 2023-24 pitch row
Quite fascinatingly, In the aftermath reaction, Sutherland was seen covering his face in utter disbelief. so much so that he was caught saying, "It's a T20 game!" through the stump pic while fielding. He felt that there should be no provision for walking in the danger area for a bowler in T20 cricket at least. These rules should only be followed in First-Class matches.
Check out the viral umpire-bowler suspension moments here:
In case you missed it, two Melbourne Renegades players were removed from the bowling attack in their match against the Brisbane Heat.
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 18, 2025
Here's what happened 👇 #BBL14 pic.twitter.com/jJtPRVfhCu
What do cricket laws say about walking in protected pitch areas?
Meanwhile, speaking of the cricket laws which govern the BBL 2024-25, as per clause 41.11 of the playing conditions there are provisions for the 'walking on the pitch' offence.
"That area of the pitch contained within a rectangle bounded at each end by imaginary lines parallel to the popping creases and 5 ft/1.52 m in front of each, and on the sides by imaginary lines, one each side of the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps, each parallel to it and 1 ft/30.48 cm from it."
Furthermore, another clause considers bowler entering into the protected area of the pitch while in the middle of their follow-through without any valid reason irrespective of whether the ball was bowled or not, would be deemed as an offence. Hence, even by T20 cricket standards, Sutherland's logic was not considerable.
"It is unfair for a bowler to enter the protected area in his follow-through without reasonable cause, whether or not the ball is delivered," clause 41.13.1 states.
Hence under such offences, an umpire is expected to offer two warnings before removing the bowler from bowling any further in the match.
"Direct the captain of the fielding side to suspend the bowler immediately from bowling. If applicable, the over shall be completed by another bowler, who shall neither have bowled any part of the previous over, nor be allowed to bowl any part of the next over," clause 41.13.4.1 mentions.
However, looking at the above-mentioned situation, it was unclear whether the umpire had already issued two fair warnings to both Renegades bowlers. However, Mark Howard while commentating on air, did mention that Will Sutherland was warned in the first over of the innings itself.
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