UMPIRES' COLUMN: Deciding on when shots are played

That stems from the wording from the old law. What type of shot is irrelevant, it is if the batter has attempted to play the ball with the bat.

A batter could sweep the bat through the air in what looks like an off drive, but with every intention of missing the ball.

Some batters are very skilful at giving the impression they are trying to hit the ball but have no intention of doing so. How often do we see a batter play forward defensively with the bat clearly behind the pad? Or where the batter puts his/her leg forward into the line of the ball and deliberately brings the bat through outside his/her pad? That is playing a shot but not attempting to play the ball. An umpire has to decide if leg-byes are allowed.

A leg-bye can be given if the batter tried to avoid being hit by the ball. This is usually pretty obvious as the batter would take evasive action.

If the ball goes on to hit the bat, leg-byes cannot be given. However, if it hits the batter’s person and they run, what action does the umpire take? The umpire waits until the ball goes over the boundary or at the completion of the first run whichever is first. He will then call and signal ‘dead-ball’ and return the batters to their original ends. The reason for waiting for the call to be made is so the fielding side has the opportunity of running the batter out. Returning the batters to their original ends will help the scorers know that no runs are being scored.

The only possible runs added to the total could be if the umpire had called ‘no-ball’, which would have happened before the ball hit the striker, and if either side committed an offence which leads to awarding five penalty runs. However, there cannot be five penalty runs for the ball hitting the helmet placed on the ground behind the wicketkeeper - this is not a fielding offence and thus, they are not punished if leg-byes are disallowed.

There is a lot for the umpire to think about in deciding if a leg-bye is allowed.