Australian cricket team first victim of new ICC law on ‘fake fielding’

International Cricket Council (ICC) has introduced a law of penalising those sides whose fielders indulge in ‘fake fielding’ to deter the batsmen

The ongoing JLT Cup in Australia provided one of the first instances where a new rule pertaining to on field play, released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently, was put into practice by the umpires.

Marnus Labuschagne of the Queensland Bulls dived to his right side and failed to stop the ball which was hit in his direction by CA XI batsman Param Uppal during their JLT Cup match. But Labuschagne faked that he had fielded the ball and attempted a bluff throw at the stumps which was penalised by the umpires based on the new International Cricket Council (ICC) rule.(Getty Images)

Among the several new playing conditions rules released by the sport’s global governing body is one to prevent ‘fake fielding’, which often creates doubts in the minds of batsmen that could lead to their dismissals.

Playing in the JLT Cup match for Queensland Bulls against the Cricket Australia (CA) XI on Friday, Marnus Labuschagne’s error saw the umpires adding five additional runs to CA XI’s total for his ‘fake fielding’.

In the 27th over of CA XI, Labuschagne dived to his right side and failed to stop the ball which was hit in his direction by CA XI batsman Param Uppal. The fielder failed to collect the ball but as the batsmen were scurrying for a run, he faked to have stopped it and gestured throwing it towards the wickets, reported Fox Sports.

CA XI batman Clint Hinchliffe got alarmed and increased his pace to complete the run, but soon realised that the fielder had faked the throw.

The umpire spotted the mistake and immediately signalled the scorers to add five more runs to CA XI’s total, despite Labuschagne’s apology. The Queensland Bulls were charged five penalty runs according to the new ICC rule of ‘intentionally deceiving or distracting a batsman’.

The report claimed that such a rule was finalised in Australian cricket even before the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) introduced their updated laws on the game earlier this year.