Watch: Carlos Brathwaite's ‘reckless’ fielding cost his team five penalty runs in Vitality Blast

Carlos Brathwaite found himself entangled in an unwanted situation that eventually cost his team five penalty runs in the ongoing Vitality T20 Blast in England.

Carlos Brathwaite found himself entangled in an unwanted situation that eventually cost his team five penalty runs in the ongoing Vitality T20 Blast in England. The Windies cricketer is leading Birmingham Bears in the tournament and the incident took place in the match against Derbyshire.

Carlos Brathwaite's ‘reckless’ fielding cost his team five penalty runs(Screengrab)

In the 13th over of the Derbyshire's chase at Edgbaston, Brathwaite picked a ball on his follow-through and immediately threw it towards the stumps. However, his throw went and hit the handle of Wayne Madsen's bat, who initially leaned forward to take a single after knocking the ball but quickly turned around.

Madsen eventually completed a single, courtesy of an overthrow as the ball deflected away after knocking his bat, but the batter was livid with Brathwaite's behaviour, which the officials felt was "reckless". 

Despite Brathwaite immediately apologised, Madsen was seen complaining to the official, following which the bowler tried to justify his action. However, after a brief discussion between the two umpires, Brathwaite was was overruled and was penalised for a Level 2 offence under the MCC Laws pertaining to 'Unfair Play'.

Derbyshire, who were batting at 111/1 at the moment and were subsequently awarded five extra runs in the 160-run chase, which they completed with 11 balls to spare. 

The MCC Law 42.3.1 deals with incidents involving "throwing the ball at a player, umpire or another person in an inappropriate and dangerous manner", however the is not applied in international cricket and other franchise tournaments including the IPL.

If something similar occurs in international cricket, the bowler would earn a demerit point and possibly some monetary penalty. In IPL the player involved would be given a monetary penalty along with a code of conduct warning.

However, the MCC ruling is completely followed in Vitality T20 Blast and the PSL.

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Reacting to the incident, Madsen was quoted by ESPNCricinfo as saying: "The umpires deemed Carlos Brathwaite's throw reckless and that is what it was."

"I was in my crease and he didn't even look. I know it's a competitive game but if that had hit me on the back of the head, like the umpires said, there is real trouble. Because I was back in my crease before he had even released the ball, it was a bit reckless," he added.

It has so far been an exciting outing for Brathwaite, who scalped three wickets to help Birmingham defend the highest total in Vitality T20 Blast history. In the clash against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, the Windies all-rounder decided to retire out as Birmingham eventually won the contest by one run.