Perth Scorchers' Cooper Connolly hits the ball on the roof of Marvel Stadium during their Big Bash League (BBL 2024-25) match against the Melbourne Renegades. Cooper Connolly sent the ball straight over the pitch off the bowling of Kane Richardson, but the umpire declared it a dead ball.
The Melbourne Renegades won the toss and elected to play at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne on Monday 23 December. It took the Scorchers until the 11th ball of the innings to score a run in the powerplay. Finn Allen (0 of 3) and Keaton Jennings (9 of 12) were among the first hitters to fall.
Wicketkeeper batsman Josh Inglis almost hit the roof but was caught by Jake Fraser-McGurk on the boundary. Inglis was dismissed cheaply by Will Sutherland, leaving the Scorchers at 3-28 after seven overs. The team's batting situation worsened as they collapsed to 35/4 in 8.1 overs during the innings.
Cooper Connolly hits the ball on the roof, but no award is awarded
As the Scorchers tried to recover from a poor start, Cooper Connolly's errant hit went up the straight and hit the roof in the 10th over. Player Kane Richardson attempted a one-handed catch. According to the rules, if a fielder catches the ball with one hand after it hits the roof, the batsman is out.
Richardson failed to stick on a one-handed catch attempt and injured himself in the process. It was assessed by physiotherapists, and the referees declared the delivery dead.
Earlier, the batting team was awarded six runs when the ball hit the roof, but umpires now have the authority to decide the outcome of a delivery based on where the ball makes contact.
Take a look at the incident here:
This hit the roof đź‘€#bubble14 pic.twitter.com/1LZqOtIHTs
– KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) December 23, 2024
BBL eliminates six automatic cap call rules in 2023
The ceiling at Marvel Stadium has caused problems for both batsmen and fielders in the BBL, with balls intended for sixes sometimes landing inside the boundaries. In other cases, simple shots are ruined when the ball hits the ceiling.
To address this issue, Cricket Australia has changed the rules for the 2023-24 season. Under the new rule, hitters will not automatically receive six runs for hitting the ceiling. If the umpires thought he would have been out of bounds, six runs would be awarded; If not, the delivery will be ruled a dead ball.
“Batters will no longer be automatically awarded six runs for hitting the Marvel Stadium roof under changes to Cricket Australia’s playing conditions for the 2023-24 season,” a statement from the BBL said (via cricket.com.au).
The new rule that will be applied to KFC BBL | 13 starting December 7 will put it at the umpires' discretion to determine if the ball goes out of bounds. If they decide that, they will give the batter six runs. “If not, it will be ruled a dead ball,” the statement continued.
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