On June 30, during a match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka for the ICC Women’s Championship, the on-field referees made a bad mistake when they were counting the runs. Eden Carlson, New Zealand’s off-spinner, threw 11 overs instead of the limit of 10. Even though they made a mistake, it didn’t change the game very much.
Harshitha Samarawickrama, who batted first, was one of the two people Eden Carlson had already taken out. At the end of the 45th over, she had reached her 10th over limit, which was 2/40. But, even though the rest of the attack had plenty of overs left, she kept bowling from the same end and threw one extra over with five dot balls and one single. Because of this, her total score for the match was 11-1-41-2.
By the time Carson threw her eleventh over, Sri Lanka only had one wicket left and needed 119 runs in the last four overs. The match had already turned heavily in New Zealand’s favour. In the 49th over, Sri Lanka was out for 213 runs, giving New Zealand a clear win by 116 runs. After Sri Lanka won the first game by nine runs, this win brought the three-game series to an even score. Now, the series will come down to the match on Monday in Galle.
In addition to the counting mistake, there were rumours of trouble early in the game. New Zealand’s players ran on the pitch during their turn, so Sri Lanka was given five penalty runs. The judge warned Brook Halliday and Lea Tahuhu before giving them a penalty for running on the wicket.
But it’s not clear if these penalty runs were taken away at the end of the game. If they had stood, the difference between the two teams would have been 111 runs instead of the recorded 116 runs.
Rule 41.14.3 of the game rules spells out the rules for giving penalty runs in these situations. It says, “If a batter intentionally or accidentally damages the field, the umpire must tell the other umpire and give the fielding team five penalty runs when the ball is dead.”
India
