A curious incident happened in a match on Saturday at Bletchley. A batsman played a ball and it lodged between his pad and his thigh.

A fieldsman came up, took the ball out, a “catch” was appealed for, and the batsman was given out. The other umpire protested against the decision, on the ground that the ball was dead.

Undoubtedly this contention was correct, because the rule says: “If a ball, whether struck with the bat or not, lodges in a batsman’s clothing, the ball shall become dead.”

Supposing the batsman in this case had started to run – a silly supposition, perhaps – another pretty argument would have arisen. Such cases only occur once in a lifetime in serious cricket.

[From the Watford Observer of June 4, 1921]

For more stories from the Watford Observer’s archive, go to our Nostalgia section by clicking HERE