The tally of
leg-before-wicket scalps in cricket's premier format stood at 9,999 after day
two of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka at St George's Park. More was to follow, in the other Boxing day
test at Melbourne – the full day did not have any LBW decisions and hence the
dismissal of Amla became the distinct LBW wicket no. 10,000. Nuwan Pradeep dismissed Amla with the last
ball before tea, making him that coveted
landmark.
There have always been
comments that ‘if Thommo does not get you – Lillee will’ – and detractors will
say – if you are struck anywhere on the pads, it is LBW in Australia and if you
are beaten – it is ‘Caught Marsh Bowled Lillee’ – could be travesty of justice to
that legendary fast bowler. In the same
breathe, any lbw decision is always a
travesty so far as one side is concerned: for the bowler, it's always out; for
the batsman, never. In between these two certainties is the gray area of
discretion in which the poor and increasingly beleaguered umpire must wallow,
knowing fully well that while one side will congratulate them on an excellent
decision, the other will scowl and mutter vague imprecations.
For a batsman to be out
leg before wicket, the umpire must decide that the ball has hit the batsman on
the body and would have gone on to hit the stumps, subject to certain
conditions. The bowler should have bowled a legal delivery - not a no-ball. If
the ball has pitched, it should not have pitched outside the line of leg stump.
The ball shall hit any part of the batsman - not just the legs - apart from the
hand holding the bat, in line with the stumps; unless the umpire decides the
batsmen isn't playing a shot, in which case the impact of the ball on the
pad/body can be outside the line of off stump as well, but not outside leg stump. The umpire would then decide whether the predicted trajectory
of the ball would have taken it on to hit the stumps.
So, there are always – ‘ifs
and buts’ – yet it has always been the Umpire’s decision – when struck on pad,
some batsman might try to show the bat, some might rub their arms or thigh –
trying to impress that it had struck elsewhere and some batsman would avoid eye
contact with the Umpire – still, the dreaded finger can slowly go up and
batsman will have to trudge his way back to the Pavilion - and one such walk back, by history has made
Amla and Pradeep part of the statistical lore – 10000th LBW
dismissal.
At Melbourne, a quirk of the rules cost Pakistan a run in the first innings of
the Boxing Day Test. Younis Khan was struck on the pad by Josh Hazlewood
shortly after lunch, with the ball running down to fine leg. The batters took a
leg bye, but Younis was given out LBW. The wicket was then overturned on
review. The ball was declared dead, which meant that the run did not stand. One would feel that if it was not out, then
there was a run in it, when the batsmen had crossed over !
Sachin Tendulkar with so many
records, was once about LBW when he ducked and the ball hit the shoulder and
not the leg. He was the batsman to be
given out by Third Umpire. .. .. and he holds the record for being dismissed LBW
63 times; Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Graham Gooch, Alastair Cook and Ricky Ponting
are in the top 5.
Interesting
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
28th Dec 2016.
