Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones tore into the International Cricket Council and its rule regarding “obstructing”, which occurred in the ongoing U-19 World Cup in New Zealand and resulted in outrage in the cricket fraternity. He said that the ICC needed to urgently change the law for the sake of the game.
Saying that a batsman should not be blamed or penalised for picking up the ball and throwing it back to the fielder, he said, “I don't like the way the obstruction law is written. It needs to be looked at now, not next month. They need to convene now and change the law of the game,” Jones told THE WEEK on the sidelines of a cricket clinic held at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground to announce the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia later this year.
Dean Jones at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi | Arvind Jain
The controversy occurred in the match between South Africa and West Indies. Proteas opener Jiveshan Pillay was ruled out for obstructing the field after he picked a ball which had edged off his pads and lay near the stumps but was stationary and returned it to Windies wicketkeeper and skipper Emmanuel Stewart.
ICC's rule 37.4 on returning the ball to the fielder reads thus: “Either batsman is out Obstructing the field if, at any time while the ball is in play and without the consent of the fielder, he uses the bat or any part of his person to return the ball to any fielder.”
The Windies skipper then appealed to the on-field umpires who sent the decision upstairs to the third umpire. Pillay was subsequently ruled out for handling the ball.
Saying that the decision taken went against the spirit of the game, Jones said, “We have laws of game and spirit of the game. What comes first? In ICC book, the preamble, the spirit of the game comes first. In laws of game, it says otherwise. If you don't like the law change it, don't blame the player.”
South African senior men's team skipper Faf du Plessis termed the decision “absolute joke, not in spirit of the game”. “I have done this 100 times,” he added in his tweet.
Jones, currently coach of Pakistan Super League team Islamabad United, expressed grave concern on the message that the decision gave to young cricketers. “We have been brought up saying we will help you with the ball, let's get on with the game. So, what's going to happen now is that the batsmen in nets aren't going to pick the ball and ask the bowler to do so. We are going to get to that stage, it's happening too much in U-19 cricket, but the fact is this is the law.
“If you don't like the law change it. It's not cricketers' fault, it's the ICC law.”
