Obstructing the field: as contentious a dismissal today as it was in 1893 | Simon Burnton

Whether in the Big Bash in 2018 or an English county game 125 years ago, when a batsman is given out obstructing the field it feels as if it’s not cricket

Hobart Hurricanes wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, left, watches on as Brisbane Heat’s Alex Ross walks off after his controversial dismissal in the BBL match at the Gabba.






Hobart Hurricanes wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, left, watches on as Brisbane Heat’s ≈ walks off after his controversial dismissal in the BBL match at the Gabba.
Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

For those who have not seen it, it went something like this: Brisbane Heat’s Alex Ross, coming back for a sharp second run, looked over his shoulder about halfway down the track to check on the fielder’s progress and then focused again on his own problems, swerving to head straight towards the stumps. The ball eventually hit him and deflected into the stumps with his bat already grounded in the crease. Given his position when the ball arrived there was no chance of him being run out but he was given out by the third umpire for obstructing the field.

“I think everyone that’s here and everyone that’s watched the game didn’t think it was the right decision,” said Brisbane Heat’s captain, Brendon McCullum. “He wasn’t running in the way of the ball. He wasn’t impeding it … We are not righteous in our stance on the spirit of the game but every now and then you get a chance to stand up to the spirit of cricket and tonight George [Bailey, the Hobart captain] and the Hurricanes missed that opportunity. Sometimes there are opportunities which are more important than the two points.”

It is hard to think of another rule in sport as emotive as this. By deciding that a cricketer has obstructed the field an umpire is essentially concluding that he or she has made a deliberate and wilful attempt to pervert the game; that the player is, in short, a cheat. Thankfully it is extremely unusual – in all forms of international cricket there have been four such dismissals in the last five years, and four more in the entire previous history of cricket – but cricketers, their team-mates and supporters rarely take it very well.

Last year Jason Roy was given out during a Twenty20 match against South Africa and, though the decision in this case was not enormously controversial – “Probably a 50-50 call. You could see both sides,” said Eoin Morgan – it was still roundly booed by those at Taunton to witness it. When Len Hutton was given out against the same opponents at The Oval in 1951 – still the only obstructing-the-field dismissal in Test history – it was the first time anyone in England had seen it happen for more than half a century. People simply did not know how to react. “There was an appalling hiatus,” the Guardian wrote. “The world seemed to stand still. At last there came an appeal, with the umpires the focus of all eyes. Then, suddenly and slowly, Hutton walked from the scene of the struggle.”

Trawling through the archives, one decision stands above all others both for the furious reaction it provoked and the unusual story that lay behind it. The unfortunate batsman was Leicestershire’s Charles de Trafford, a man most famous for opening the batting for the county against Australia in 1905 and completing a half-century before his partner had even got off the mark. “The match commenced in rather dull and showery weather but play was suspended only once by the rain,” read the Guardian’s report of a game between Leicestershire and Derbyshire from 1893. “Play, however, was also suspended shortly after the commencement of the Leicestershire innings by an unfortunate decision of the umpire in giving the Leicestershire captain out for wilful obstruction of the field without the slightest apparent cause.”

The circumstances of the dismissal are described almost totally differently in different reports, but one point upon which all agree was that it was Derbyshire’s captain and wicket-keeper, Bill Storer, who appealed; some also have him throwing the ball that De Trafford got in the way of. “The crowd hooted the umpire, and for some minutes refused to allow Holland to go to the wickets,” we continued. “At length Holland went in to bat but the disturbance and hooting continued for about 20 minutes, during which the game was being continued under a great interruption. At length Storer, who was singled out for hooting as well as the umpire, appealed to Mr Evershed, the captain of the team, and the game was suspended.”

For more than 10 minutes Derbyshire’s Edward Evershed was off the field, trying to restore order. When eventually the match resumed, “there were disorderly calls all over the field of ‘How’s that?’ but at length the game proceeded with only slight interruption”.

The journalists did not know, or at least did not mention, that the crowd had an unusual reason for already disliking one of those involved. The previous December, during the football season, Leicester Fosse had played a 1-1 draw against Derby Town, of which the best report that I have been able to find came in the Melton Mowbray Mercury.

“During the game Lord and Storer, who were opposing each other, had several tussles for supremacy,” they wrote. “At last Storer lost his temper altogether and indiscreetly hit Lord a blow in the face. The referee ordered him off the field but he refused to go, and the game was brought to a conclusion about seven minutes to time amidst the wildest excitement. Considerable hooting was indulged in, and a rush was about to be made for the Derby player, but the cooler of the Fosse supporters managed to quell the excitement for a time, and the players were allowed to mount a conveyance and drive to the dressing-rooms.”

The Nottingham Evening Post reported that “Lord kicked or struck him first”, but despite the provocation Storer was suspended for a month. And it was the very same Bill Storer who was keeping wicket for Derbyshire the following summer. The crowd had not just been protesting against an infuriating on-field decision but also displaying an unusually impressive knowledge of recent local sporting sub-plots. And also indulging in what seems an unusual proclivity for hooting.

This is an extract taken from The Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.