As the rules clarified, it was given a six; he probably went too deep and couldn’t gauge where the boundary ropes were.
Pakistani debutant Irfan Khan put in a marvellous effort on the field while trying to stop a six at the deep square leg region during the first ODI between Australia and Pakistan. However, after seeing replays, the third umpire gave it a maximum, which didn’t please Pakistani players.
The decision was correct, for the rules state that the first contact of a fielder should be within the boundary before touching the ball. If the criteria are not met, it is deemed a six.
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According to MCC’s Law 19.5.2, “A fielder who is not in contact with the ground is considered to be grounded beyond the boundary if his/her final contact with the ground, before his/her first contact with the ball after it has been delivered by the bowler, was not entirely within the boundary.”
Hence, as the replays showed, Irfan touched the boundary advertisement board before taking a leap to stop the ball. As the rules clarified, it was given a six; he probably went too deep and couldn’t gauge where the boundary ropes were.
When the event unfolded, David Warner, who retired from international cricket, questioned the rules while commentating on air. He gave the example of Michael Neser’s catch from BBL 2022/23 when he lobbed the ball in the air from inside the boundary and then came out to take a catch.
“It’s like running off the sideboard and trying to knock one back in… You’ve got to start inside the field. But then we go back to Michael Neser’s catch where he was outside the field and juggling it after he touched the outside of the field. Which rules are different? International, BBL?”
While there have been numerous views around that catch, it was always a clean catch, as clarified by MCC. Neser’s first contact was inside the boundary, and when he threw the ball outside the ropes, his contact was not with the ropes or touching the ground outside the boundary.
Both efforts were fabulous, but only Neser did everything correctly. However, Irfan again came up with a brilliant fielding display on the next ball to send Josh Inglis back in the same region.
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