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April 10

Cricket boundaries

This video from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation shows a comical cricket incident: attempting to prevent the ball from reaching the boundary, the fielder stops the ball just in time, but then goes far past the fence himself, and then accidentally sends it past the boundary himself. Four questions:

If a legally bowled ball reaches the boundary without any action by the batsman, as here, is it scored as if the batsman had hit it? Boundary (cricket) talks only about a scoring shot where the ball is hit to, or beyond, that perimeter, but not errors by the fielding team. (Incidentally, what's the cricket term analogous to error (baseball)?)
The boundary article says Any runs the batsmen completed by running before the ball reached the edge of the field do not count, unless they are greater than the number of runs that would be scored by the boundary, in which case it is the runs from the boundary that are discounted. This is unsourced; where could I find a source for it?
Is there a theoretical limit of runs that can be scored off a single delivery? In the video, if the fielders just kept dropping the ball and didn't send it past the boundary, could the batsmen have simply kept running back and forth indefinitely, scoring as many runs as they wanted?

Nyttend (talk) 10:10, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Very briefly due to limited time, and I can't watch the video where I am, but: if the ball goes to the boundary without any contact by the batsman (presumably if the wicketkeeper and other fielders missed it entirely, or as in this case another fielder tried to stop it but failed), then four byes will be scored. These go on the scorecard as extras, not attributable to the batsmen. In the same way, leg byes are scored when the ball deflects off the batsman's pads or other body part. If the ball is bowled so far off target that runs are scored, these are classed as wides (if it reached the boundary, that would be 4 wides). Again, these go on the extras and count against the bowler's statistics. For question 2, I would expect that to be defined in the Laws of Cricket, but reference to a copy of that would be needed for correct sourcing. For question 3, as far as I know there is no limit. Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 10:28, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

User:Hassocks5489, I should have specified that in this case, the batsman didn't do anything at all. The bowler seems to have messed up (the delivery was too far from the batsman; maybe a wide?), and as a result the wicket keeper had to move to catch the ball. Because he was moving, he failed to stop the ball, which then went to the boundary and encountered the fielder whom I mentioned. Nyttend (talk) 21:57, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've had a chance to look at the video now (was at work when I gave my previous answer – Facebook blocked!). As HiLo indicates below, this would have been counted as 4 wides rather than 4 byes. The umpire (in black) signalled for a wide immediately after the ball was bowled (the "arms out" signal at 3 seconds in). Had the wicketkeeper or another fielder stopped the ball at this point, it would have counted as one extra run irrespective of whether the batsmen had actually run. It counts against the bowler in his bowling figures, but the batsman doesn't get credit. In this case, the ball was misfielded and the batsmen did run; if the ball had not crossed the boundary and they had managed, say, 2 runs, that would have counted as 2 wides – again, these would have been credited as extras rather than to the batsman. In the event, the comedy of errors (which was very entertaining, I must say) resulted in the ball crossing the boundary, so it was 4 wides. My reference to byes was incorrect because the umpire called it wide; if the ball had been bowled sufficiently accurately that a wide had not been called, had not been touched by the batsman, and had then been misfielded so that it went to the boundary, that would have been counted as 4 byes. Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 22:42, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Edit to add: the four categories of extras (wides, byes, leg-byes and no-balls) are denoted in a standard way on cricket scorecards. They appear at the bottom, between the last batsman and the total, and with standardised abbreviations. See this example, in which 37 of Australia's 359 runs were extras: 2 byes, 12 leg-byes, 16 wides and 7 no-balls. Hassocks5489 (Floreat Hova!) 22:49, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Runs can be scored as Extras. See Extra (cricket). As that article says, these are runs scored by, or awarded to, a batting team which is not credited to any individual batter. They are the runs scored by methods other than striking the ball with the bat. Those in that video would be recorded in the scorebook as Wides. And since the ball crossed the boundary rope, there would be four Wides. And yes, there is no limit to the number of runs that can be scored off a delivery while the ball remains in play. HiLo48 (talk) 10:41, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Does cricket have something analogous to Little League? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:00, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In South Africa we have Teddy Cricket and KFC Mini Cricket (endorsed by Cricket South Africa). Non-standard kit is used - e.g. the ball is not as hard or heavy as a regulation ball. Proper cricket rules do not apply. It's meant to introduce kids to the game. That said, at junior school competition level, it is played the same as for adults with some minor changes. 41.23.55.195 (talk) 13:45, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

https://cricket.co.za/mini-cricket/# 41.23.55.195 (talk) 13:52, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In Australia there are many junior competitions, beginning with the Blasters program for under 10 year olds. My 6 year old granddaughter loves it. (Note that the sponsor, Woolworths, is an Australian company. No connection to the American Woolworths.) HiLo48 (talk) 23:07, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I should have made question #2 more obvious. What's the cricket term analogous to error (baseball)? Nyttend (talk) 21:56, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently the term is "misfield". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:39, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but there's nothing formal or official about it. Although cricket, like baseball, has very detailed scoring records kept, nothing goes in the scorebook when a misfield occurs. HiLo48 (talk) 22:59, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Then how is it known when it happens? Or is it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:07, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the runs are recorded, but nothing negative about the fielding side. At the higher levels, of course, the media tells the world about it. And at all levels, your teammates tend to remind you.HiLo48 (talk) 23:10, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If it's not part of the stats, though, doesn't the knowledge of it fade over time? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:00, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I guess so. It's just a game with a different ballance from baseball. In a Test Match, which can go for five days, there are perhaps a couple of thousand fielding events. Batters don't have to run whenever the ball is hit, or misfielded, so often, a misfield makes no difference to the score. The serious "offences", such as dropping a catch from a batter who goes on to make a lot of runs in an innings will perhaps be documented in places like Wisden. HiLo48 (talk) 04:03, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

So an individual misfield might lead to another run or two, but considering how high-scoring cricket is, it's considered to be of not much consequence? Though if it let the winning run score, that might make the newspapers? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:30, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. HiLo48 (talk) 22:51, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Bugs, you're right that the large number of runs scored reduces the impact of a misfield. Also, with about 500 balls bowled on each of the 5 days of a Test cricket match that goes the distance, and 10 of the 11 fielders not wearing any gloves, misfields are not unusual and not really remarked upon too much. --Dweller (talk) Old fashioned is the new thing! 09:15, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To answer your third question, Nyttend, there's no theoretical limit. Here's a readable but learned article about it. Ten is the record in professional cricket, there's reasonable attestation for 17 in amateur and there's a probably spurious claim of 286.

By the way, the Albert Hornby referred to in the article is A._N._Hornby here. He had a rather colourful life and a wonderful nickname: Monkey Hornby. He was quite a man. One of only two men to captain England at both rugby and cricket, played football for Blackburn Rovers F.C. and was a useful boxer. There's actually film from 1901 of him practicing his cricket shots, albeit at the age of 54, by which time he's a little portly, but still evidently full of the energy that prompted his nickname. (Starts at 5m 50s). Hornby played a key part in the genesis of what's become known as The Ashes - he was the captain of the England side that Australia so shockingly beat in 1882, 19 years before that footage was shot. --Dweller (talk) Old fashioned is the new thing! 13:04, 15 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A famous part of Australia's military history is the Siege of Tobruk in North Africa during WWII. The siege, between an ultimately successful force of mostly Australians and the Italian Army, lasted for 231 days in 1941. Inevitably, cricket was one way the Australians occupied their time. H.B. Paterson, son of Australian poet Banjo Paterson was there, and wrote a poem called Tobruk Test. Here's a couple of verses:

And the time the Signals runner

Scored the winning hit,

When as he sprinted round the wire to try and save the four

The Battery-Sergeant-Major fell into a crater deep

And the batsmen ran another seven more.

If we drive one in the minefield

We always run it out

For that is what our local rule defines

It's always good for six at least, sometimes as high as ten

While the fieldsman picks his way in through the mines.

HiLo48 (talk) 23:35, 15 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]