Young gun Patrick Dooley was the star of the show on Monday evening as the Hobart Hurricanes were able to knock over the Perth Scorchers in the BBL.

It was a moment early in the innings which could have left the Hurricanes red-faced though, had a little-known and little-used law of the game been applied.

With the Scorchers off to a roaring start and South African star Faf du Plessis on 32 off 15, Dooley managed to bowl the former Proteas' captain as he backed away and looked to hit him inside out over the covers.

Du Plessis missed the ball all ends up, but a shout as the ball was being released, as well as Matthew Wade behind the stumps calling out 'bowled' before a shot had been played could have been penalised.

Under the laws of the game, distraction of a striker by word or action should see a ball become immediately dead, and a penalty of five runs apply against the offending team.

In this instance, it could have been argued that two separate instances (the shout, and the call of bowled) had occurred between the time the ball had been released and the time it hit the stumps.

Law 41.4 states the exact penalties to apply as follows:

41.4.1: It is unfair for any fielder deliberately to attempt to distract the striker while he/she is preparing to receive or receiving a delivery.
41.4.2: If either umpire considers that any action by a fielder is such an attempt, he/she shall immediately call and signal Dead ball and inform the other umpire of the reason for the call.

The bowler's end umpire shall

  • award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side.
  • inform the captain of the fielding side, the batters and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of the reason for the action.
  • Neither batter shall be dismissed from that delivery and the ball shall not count as one of the over. However, if either umpire had reason to call and signal No ball, he/she shall do so regardless of the attempt to distract, and this call shall stand.

Wade himself admitted later on Channel 7s broadcast that Du Plessis was annoyed with him.

"Yeah, I think he was disappointed. Maybe I called bowled a little early, I don't know how early it was, but I think that's why he was annoyed," Wade said on Channel 7.

Dooley would ultimately take 4 for 16 as the Hurricanes completed a narrow win over the Scorchers.