Glimpse of the incident© Twitter
Sydney Sixers defeated Brisbane Heat by six wickets in their previous Women’s Big Bash League match on Tuesday. Asked to bat first, Brisbane posted a total of 176/7 in 20 overs, where Amelia Kerr top-scored with 64 runs. Later, this target turned out to be below-par as the Sixers chased it down with one ball to spare. However, this thrilling encounter also had a controversial moment when Brisbane were charged with five runs of penalty after Amelia grabbed the ball with a towel in her hand.
This bizarre incident took place in the 10th over of the Sixers’ chase. Batter Ashleigh Gardner played a shot towards the long-on and ran for a single. The fielder collected the ball and threw it towards Amelia, who grabbed it with a towel in her hand, at the non-striker’s end.
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
The on-field umpire immediately interrupted and signaled a five-run penalty on Brisbane Heat for his offence.
As per the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) rules, “No fielder other than the wicket-keeper shall be permitted to wear gloves or external leg guards. In addition, protection for the hand or fingers may be worn only with the consent of the umpires.”
If a fielder uses “his/her clothing with his/her hands and uses this to field the ball”, then the umpire shall “award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side.”
Coming to the match, Amelia scored 64 while Mignon du Preez scored 42 as Brisbane Heat scored 176/7. Apart from them, Charli Knott also played a quick knock of 29 off 10 balls. For Sixers, Ellyse Perry took three wickets while Jess Kerr took two wickets.
Later, Sixers chased down the target in 19.5 overs with Ashleigh Gardner and Erin Burns scoring 36 and 35 runs respectively. Georgia Voll and Jess Jonassen took two wickets each for Brisbane.
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