Stafanie Taylor bowls with a bandage on her bowling hand; Stuart Broad terms it illegal
England routed the West Indies team by 46 runs as they were bowled out for 97 runs in the chase of the 144-run target.
The cricket rules set by the guardians of the game at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have some specific guidelines for the bowlers to keep them from getting undue advantages. It also offers many ways that restrict bowlers from using anything alien or from outside that may be deemed unfair.
This includes the bowlers not using things like Vaseline, jellies and other things to smooth one side of the ball to gain swing. It also keeps the bowlers from using caps, spikes and other things to scratch one side of the ball to make it reverse swing, something that the Pakistani bowlers were accused of doing in the 1990s and started the trend of giving the ball to the umpire after every over and after every wicket fell.
In the recent ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 match between the West Indies and England, Windies women all-rounder Stafanie Taylor was seen bowling with a bandage around her bowling hand, the right one. Though it may seem innocuous, there were doubts with many users as to whether it was legal or not for her to do so, given that the bandage provided her with an advantage.
England paved their way into semis by thrashing West Indies
The bandage may have helped her keep the ball dry while bowling and provided her with extra grip making her bowling more lethal. She managed to bowl three overs and picked one wicket for 25 runs.
A Twitter user posted a screenshot with Taylor’s bandaged hand, tagging former England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards and said, “Sensible question, the West Indian bowler has a bandage on her bowling hand, is this allowed? @C_Edwards23”.
Though Edwards didn’t reply to the user, England fast bowler Stuart Broad came forth and clarified that it was not allowed for bowlers to have anything wrapped on their bowling hand, not even plaster. “No. Not even allowed plasters really,” the fast bowler replied.
Meanwhile, England routed the West Indies team by 46 runs as they were bowled out for 97 runs in the chase of the 144-run target. Natalie Sciver top-scored with 57 runs, while Sophie Ecclestone picked 3/7 and Sarah Glenn took 2/16, as Lee-Ann Kirby topped the batting with 20 runs.
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