The longest format of the game, Test cricket, is known as the purest form of cricket, and as its name suggests it is the ultimate test of a player’s skill, endurance, and temperament.
It is the oldest format of the game, with the first-ever Test match being played between England and Australia in 1877 and since then a total of 2387 Test matches have been played amongst themselves between 12 different teams.
Over the years, a total of 73000 dismissals have been recorded in the history of the Test match. However, there have been a few unusual modes of dismissal.
Here, in this article, we bring you three unusual ways of getting dismissed in the longest format of the game. Have a look:
3. Handled The Ball (7):
‘Handled the ball’ is the term used for describing the intentional usage of a batsman’s hand, which is not in contact with the bat to touch the ball.
It was in the year 1957 when Russel Endean of South Africa was adjudged out handling the ball in the second Test match between South Africa and England in Capetown.
Since then, there have been 6 different examples of this rare way of dismissal in Test cricket. Michael Vaughan is the latest player to get out with this rare way of getting dismissed during the third Test match between India and England, which took place in Bangalore in the year 2001.
2. Retired Out (2):
‘Retired Out’ is one of the three unusual ways of dismissal in the Test cricket world. ‘Retired Out’ is different from ‘Retired Hurt’. As per Law 25 of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) defines this way of dismissal as a player retired the field without taking the permission of umpires and doesn’t have the permission of the opposite team’s captain to resume his innings.
However, this way of dismissal is considered as an act of unsportsmanlike conduct and over the years, only two players have been dismissed with this unusual way of getting dismissed and interestingly, both the instances happened during the same match.
In 1983, an exception to this ‘retired out’ rule was made for the West Indies cricketer Gordon Greenidge in a Test match between India and West Indies. It happened when Greenidge received the news of his ailing daughter who would pass away two days later, Greenidge decided to leave the field after scoring 154 runs and as a mark of respect, Greenidge was declared ‘retired not out’.
1. Obstructing the field (1):
In the history of Test cricket, only one cricketer has been dismissed with this unusual way of ‘obstructing the field’. This incident took place in the year 1951, during a match between England and South Africa at the Oval, London.
Chasing a total of 163 runs, Sir Leonard Hutton, who was playing his 100th Test innings, where Hutton and his partner on-field Frank Lowson added 53 runs for the opening wicket when spinner Athol Rowan spun a ball off a good length to Leonard Hutton. However, the ball hit Hutton’s glove and rolled off his arm before going past him.
The ball was not going towards the stumps and also couldn’t reach the wicket-keeper because of Hutton’s hand movement, and thus the South African fielders made an appeal and later Hutton was dismissed for ‘obstructing the field’ and till date, he remains the only player to get dismissed with this unusual mode.
