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Leicestershire batter Louis Kimber was given out for obstructing the field in a game against Gloucestershire in the County Championship 2023 on June 13, Tuesday. Kimber was batting along Lewis Hill and while he was at 34 off 65, Louis defended a spin ball which bounced off the deck, prompting the umpires to consider the appeal made by their rivals. With this, the 26-year-old cricketer has joined names like Rameez Raja, Mohinder Amarnath, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ben Stokes for being given out for field obstruction.
With his team trailing by 110 runs at Bristol, Kimber ended up defending a spin ball which bounced and came back to him. In an instinctive decision, Kimber handled the ball with his right hand. The Gloucestershire bowlers made an appeal as the ball could have trickled into the stumps had the batter not intervened. Upon their appeal, the umpires huddled for a brief conversation and gave him out.
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As per the law, Rule 37.1.2 states, “The striker is out Obstructing the field if … in the act of receiving a ball delivered by the bowler, he/she willfully strikes the ball with a hand not holding the bat. This will apply whether it is the first strike or a second or subsequent strike. The act of receiving the ball shall extend both to playing at the ball and to striking the ball more than once in defence of his/her wicket.”
Speaking of the match, Gloucestershire scored 368, owing to the brilliant knocks played by Oliver Price (85), Danny Lamb (70) and Ajeet Dale (52). Coming to chase the score, Leicestershire ended up scoring 350, shouldering on the knocks of Leis Hill and Rishi Patel.
