PENALTY RUNS TO FIELDING SIDE – FINAL DESTINATION

Reference at the time of writing this article: Test Match Playing Conditions – June 2023 – MCC Laws of Cricket 2017 Code, 3rd Edition 2022.

In the ongoing 3rd test between India and England, after dismissing India for 445 runs in their first innings, England did not start their first innings with a clean slate. Instead of starting at 0/0, England started with 5/0 even without a ball being bowled in their innings. Well, it wasn’t a mistake in scoring or a mistake with graphics by the broadcasters, but it was for real.

It was due to 5 penalty runs awarded to England during India’s innings. These runs were awarded after two instances of batters (Jadeja on the first instance and Ashwin on the second) running on the pitch. The whole concept of awarding 5 penalty runs to the fielding side will be covered in a different blog, but here let us look at how the award of 5 penalty runs to the fielding are accounted.

Here, because of the award of penalty runs, England started their innings with 5 runs on the board. However, this is not the case every time.

Whenever 5 penalty runs are awarded to the batting side, the runs are added to the innings currently in progress (innings during which the incident occurred). However, when 5 penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side then, these runs are accounted for in two ways.

1. Penalty runs are added to the scores of their most recently completed innings, or if their innings is not yet started, then,
2. Penalty runs are added to the scores of the next innings when they commence.

In this test, India batted first and England was yet to start their first innings. So, the penalty runs were added to England’s innings as per point 2.

Let us have a look at various scenarios to understand better about accounting of these penalty runs to the fielding side through one of the above two points.

Test Matches (4 innings in a match with each side playing 2 innings each).

1. Penalty runs awarded to the fielding side during the 1^st innings of the match – the penalty runs will be added to the 1^st innings of the fielding side (2^nd innings of the match) – as per point 2 above because point 1 is not satisfied as the fielding side has not yet completed any innings.
2. Penalty runs awarded to the fielding side during the 2^nd innings of the match – the penalty runs are added to the fielding side’s 1^st innings total – as per point 1 above because the field side already has one completed innings (1^st innings of the match).
3. Penalty runs awarded to the fielding side during the 3^rd innings of the match (no follow-on situation) – the penalty runs are added to the fielding side’s 1^st innings total (2^nd innings of the match) – as per point 1 above because the field side already has one completed innings (2^nd innings of the match).
4. Penalty runs awarded to the fielding side during the 3^rd innings of the match (follow-on enforced) – the penalty runs are added to the fielding side’s 1^st innings total (1^st innings of the match) – as per point 1 above because the field side already has one completed innings (1^st innings of the match).
5. Penalty runs awarded to the fielding side during the 4^th innings of the match (with or without follow-on situation) – the penalty runs are added to the fielding side’s 2^nd innings total (3^rd innings of the match) – as per point 1 above because the field side already has two completed innings and these runs are added to the most recently completed innings (3^rd innings of the match).

By looking at all the above scenarios it is clear that point 2 is applicable only under one circumstance. That is when penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side during the 1st innings of the match. In all other circumstances, the penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side as per point 1. 

Limited Over Matches (2 innings in a match with each side playing 1 innings each)

The same concept can be extended to limited-over games where the game consists of 2 innings with both sides playing only 1 innings each. If penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side during the 1st innings of the match, then the team batting second starts their innings with 5/0. If penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side during the 2nd innings of the match, then these runs are added to the total of the team batting first, and the target gets revised to 5 runs more than what the team batting first originally scored.

Hope, the final destination of the penalty runs awarded to the fielding side is now clear.