You must have seen in a cricket match that the wicketkeeper standing behind the wicket uses gloves to catch the ball. But apart from the goalkeeper, the remaining 10 field team players present on the ground catch the ball without gloves or protection. But what if a field player other than the goalkeeper uses gloves or something else to catch the ball? The same thing happened in the Women’s Big Bash League where the bowler caught the ball through the towel.
The bowler’s attempt to catch the ball with the help of a towel cost her a lot of money and turned out to be very beneficial for the opposing team. This incident occurred during the 49th match of the 2023 Women’s Big Bash League. The match was played between the Brisbane Heat Women and the Sydney Sixers Women. This incident occurred during the second innings of the match when Amelia Kerr, while bowling for Brisbane Heat, caught the ball with the help of a towel, which was assessed a 5-run penalty by the field umpire.
The video of this incident is quickly going viral on social media. In the video, Amelia Kerr can be seen throwing the ball to Sydney Sixers batsman Ashley Gardner, after which a shot was played towards long on. But the ball returned by the fielder was caught at the bowling end by Amelia Kerr with the help of a towel, following which the umpire awarded a penalty of 5 runs. With this strike, the Sydney Sixers scored 5 runs.
Today we learned: Catching a ball with a towel results in a 5-run penalty 😳#WBBLonFanCode #WBBL pic.twitter.com/PgLIvrJRHK
– FanCode (@FanCode) November 21, 2023
According to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Rules, the cricket rule book, no player in the fielding team other than the wicketkeeper is allowed to wear gloves or leg guards. In addition, any protection on the hands or fingers may only be worn with the consent of the referee. If a fielder other than the wicketkeeper uses any type of clothing or gloves to catch the ball, the batting team will receive 5 runs as a penalty.