Umpires cancel an innings! (8 August 1999)

8 August 1999

Umpires cancel an innings!

Kandy South Group Corr

An unusual incident occurred in the quarter-finals of the Horlicks Trophy schools under 15 Division I cricket tournament match between St. Peter's College, Bambalapitiya and Dharmaraja College, Kandy this week at Lake View grounds, Kandy when the umpires cancelled an innings and started afresh.

Dharmaraja, batting first scored 226 for 6 wickets in 50 overs. St. Peter's who chased this score were 20 for 1 in 15 overs when the Peterites protested that the ball used was a two-piece one and did not conform to the tournament regulations. It is alleged that the two umpires upheld the protest despite the Rajans protesting that it was a four piece ball.

But 15 overs had been bowled and the umpires were in a dilemma as to whether continue the match with a new ball or take some other course of action. Next they took the strange step of cancelling the Peterites innings and instructed them to bat again, though a lot of time had been lost over this controversy.

The Peterites commenced their batting all over again and they went ahead on run rate when stumps were drawn. But now it was the turn of the Rajans to protest that they had used a four piece ball conforming to the tournament regulations.

In order to break this 'deadlock', it is understood that the tournament committee had ordered a replay of the match. This may be a rare instance in which the umpires had cancelled an innings.

Source :: The Daily News (https://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/)