WATCH: Marnus Labuschagne becomes first victim of new 'fake fielding' law
Getty
Queensland's Marnus Labuschange became the first player to fall victim to the new fake-fielding rule by the ICC in the JLT Cup and his team was penalized five runs. During CA XI innings, Labuschagne failed to collect the ball after diving to his right, but leapt to his feet and shaped to throw.
The incident took place in the 27th over of the Cricket Australia XI's innings against Queensland at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, when CA XI batsman Param Uppal drove a Mitchell Swepson delivery to the cover region, where Labuschagne was stationed. In a pursuit to stop the ball, the Queensland fielder dived to his right but failed to stop the ball. However, to stop the batsmen from picking a single, he instantly positioned himself as if he collected the ball and shaped to throw towards the striker’s end.Â
Watching that, Uppal thought the obvious and decided to not take the single, but realised that the ball was on its way down to Matthew Renshaw at long-off and the single was completed safely. Although Labuschagne raised his hand to indicate an apology, the on-field umpires came together to discuss before eventually signalling the scorers by tapping his left shoulder to indicate the penalty runs.Â
The rule against "intentionally deceiving or distracting a batsman" was only officially introduced on Thursday by the International Cricket Council's latest version of playing conditions and Marnus Labuschagne became the first to fall foul of that.
