Drama at MCG as Adam Zampa’s run-out attempt against Tom Rogers is turned down

There was an incident of a bowler – Adam Zampa – attempting to run the non-striker – Tom Rogers – out backing up during the Melbourne derby in the BBL on Tuesday. However, Stars bowler Zampa had turned his arm over before stopping and whipping the bails off, so even though Rogers was outside his crease, it wasn’t out. And though David Hussey, the Stars coach, said “we would have withdrawn the appeal” had it been given out, Zampa himself wasn’t too sure about it.

Zampa, in fact, stressed that he “saw red a little bit” when Rogers rushed out before he had delivered the previous ball, the fourth of the final over of Renegades’ innings.

“Running out of the crease before I bowled it, to his advantage; I bowled a good ball to Mackenzie Harvey [the batter on strike], which probably should have been one if he [Rogers] hadn’t done that. So, I guess, he used that to his advantage. So I thought, that ball, if he doesn’t want to be on strike, then I’ll make it a little bit easier for him,” Zampa said on the official broadcast after the game, which Stars lost by 33 runs, with Rogers starring with the ball for Renegades with a five-wicket haul.

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He couldn’t, because he didn’t quite know the rule: once the bowler’s arm has passed the point at which he is normally expected to release the ball, or the highest point in the delivery action, the non-striker can leave the crease without worrying about being run-out.

“If you haven’t let the ball go, then… I had assumed that the batter still has to be in the crease,” Zampa said. “But apparently if you finish your action and they can assume you have bowled the ball, then they are allowed to leave the crease.

“I am not sure what decision I would have [gone] with once the ruling had been made, but basically, straightaway Gerard (Abood, the umpire) said, ‘you finish your action, I don’t think it’s out’. So it didn’t matter. As soon as Gerard said that I knew it wouldn’t be out, because I knew how far my arm had come over. Gerard said, ‘if your arm comes all the way over, and he can assume you have bowled the ball, then you can’t do that’. So straightaway, I was like, ‘yeah, that’s not out’.”

The replays confirmed that Zampa’s bowling arm had reached the highest point, and crossed it, before he stopped, turned around, and took the bails off, with Rogers well outside the crease.

“I was probably staying in my crease a little bit longer than I have in the past,” Rogers said. “So I thought I was going to be okay. But yeah, I am not too sure about it. But the umpires are doing a good job, and thankfully gave it not out.

“It gets a bit murky, doesn’t it? Someone gets halfway down the wicket, everyone won’t be too happy about it. But not really. Hopefully it all settles down and washes away in the next couple of months, by the end of the cricket season here.”

Asked about Hussey’s statement, where he said, “It was more of a warning for the batter not to leave too early”, Zampa said that he wasn’t sure he saw it the same way.

“It’s not a warning. I’m a very competitive guy, so, yeah, I guess I saw red a little bit when, as I said, he used that to his advantage,” Zampa said. “I guess in that situation again, I’m not saying I won’t do it. It’s late in the innings, it’s like two balls left, I know even if I Mankad someone and run him out, then they still have three [two] wickets in hand, Mackenzie Harvey’s on strike, so it doesn’t make that much difference to the game.

“Tenth over of the game, if they try to pinch ground, it’s probably more of a warning. Even if I had got my technique right, my Mankad technique right, and Gerard said that’s probably going to be out, I don’t know what decision I would have come to.”

Whether the incident was the reason or not, Rogers was certainly pumped up when Stars began their chase of Renegades’ 141 for 7. By the end of the third over, he had sent Joe Clarke, his namesake Thomas Rogers, and Beau Webster back. Not long after, he had Hilton Cartwright’s number. And later in the chase, he got rid of Luke Wood to record 5 for 16, his best in T20s.

“I don’t know if I fired him up, but he was the pick of the bowlers tonight,” Zampa conceded.

He also “didn’t even notice” when the MCG crowd booed him, countering, “I think I was well within my right to do it. It’s in the rulebook. As you saw, I just got my technique wrong. He was always halfway down the wicket. It’s in the rulebook.”