The Underarm vs Timed Out

[RossTaylorsBox]

It should be allowed but only if you can bowl it at 140 kph.

 

[shortpitched713]

It should be allowed but only if you can bowl it at 140 kph.

Even if it's coming in as a 70 kph lobbed lollipop, it's going for 6, 8 times out of 10 anyway. So why not allow it?

 

[GIMH]

I’d personally allow it being rolled along the ground but with the caveat that the batsman is out if he doesn’t get 4 (or more)

 

[Ali TT]

Women's softball pitchers can reach speeds of 70+mph, so not impossible to imagine that if underarm was allowed, specialists could be pretty nippy.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Women's softball pitchers can reach speeds of 70+mph, so not impossible to imagine that if underarm was allowed, specialists could be pretty nippy.

They bowl underarm?

 

[Prince EWS]

They bowl underarm?

Yes.

 

[wpdavid]

Not sure either of them was as bad as Somerset declaring in a List A match to stop the other side improving their wicket-taking rate, that being the method of breaking ties in the B&H Cup at the time.
(That was also entirely legal, but Somerset still got disqualified a week later. IIRC even Somerset themselves agreed that they should be disqualified).

Just adding a bit to Andrew's post, as lots of CWers may not be aware of this one, Somerset declared at the grand total of 1 for 0 after the first and only over of their innings. Here's the full story.

I do declare

Few incidents have been as cynical as Somerset's declaration after one over of their Benson & Hedges Cup one-dayer against Worcestershire

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[TheJediBrah]

They bowl underarm?

It's one of the main differences between Softball and Baseball

Another one being, and you're not going to believe this, they use a ball that's soft

 

[TheJediBrah]

With the underarm ball, if it wasn't going to hit the stumps could you kick it up with your foot and then hit it for 6?

 

[AndrewB]

With the underarm ball, if it wasn't going to hit the stumps could you kick it up with your foot and then hit it for 6?

No, that counts as ‘hit the ball twice’.

 

[Aidan11]

Just adding a bit to Andrew's post, as lots of CWers may not be aware of this one, Somerset declared at the grand total of 1 for 0 after the first and only over of their innings. Here's the full story.

I do declare

Few incidents have been as cynical as Somerset's declaration after one over of their Benson & Hedges Cup one-dayer against Worcestershire

www.espncricinfo.com

I remember that game well. A rare case of being punished for not playing within the spirit of the game despite technically playing within the rules.

 

[TheJediBrah]

No, that counts as ‘hit the ball twice’.

Only if you do it deliberately? Just pretend to accidentally kick the ball up then hit it

 

[wpdavid]

I remember that game well. A rare case of being punished for not playing within the spirit of the game despite technically playing within the rules.

According to the article, Somerset's captain came up with the idea a day or two before the match and phoned the TCCB to see if they could do it. Apparently the TCCB response was, although it's not against the rules, there would be 'repercussions'.

 

[wpdavid]

Only if you do ot deliberately? Just pretend to accidentally kick the ball up then hit it

I can just about envisage that with a slow leg-spinner pitching outside leg stump. But I don't think that McKechnie could have done that with Chappell's 20 metre grubber.

 

[shortpitched713]

It's one of the main differences between Softball and Baseball

Another one being, and you're not going to believe this, they use a ball that's soft

Nah mate, it is bigger and a little less dense, but essentially it's made out of the same stuff as a baseball, and hurts like a bitch if it hits you unaware.

 

[Coronis]

Nah mate, it is bigger and a little less dense, but essentially it's made out of the same stuff

Cricket fans vs baseball fans

 

[AndrewB]

Not sure either of them was as bad as Somerset declaring in a List A match to stop the other side improving their wicket-taking rate, that being the method of breaking ties in the B&H Cup at the time.
(That was also entirely legal, but Somerset still got disqualified a week later. IIRC even Somerset themselves agreed that they should be disqualified).

An interesting follow-up to this (according to the book "Sports Facts 1980") is that the TCCB banned declarations and underarm bowling in one-day matches in England from 1980. (It's not clear why, as the book implies, the declaration led them to ban underarm bowling - I suspect it's just carelessly written... the book also implies that the MCC had proposed that non-wooden bats should be banned before Lillee's aluminium bat incident, but I suspect this was also careless writing).

 

[NotMcKenzie]

In Benaud's summary after the underarm ball, he showed a picture of the B&H cup rules used in England, which stated “No ball shall be delivered underarm,” and reckoned that unawareness of the absence of that rule in WSC matches was why Geoff Howarth came out onto the ground to argue with the umpires.