Umpires Corner: Runs on a big ground and direct hit penalised?

This edition of Umpires Corner in association with the International Institute of Cricket Umpiring and Scoring covers some more tricky questions of the Laws.

Many times on the pitch (and after the game) we have come to discuss whether a controversial situation should be allowed or not. There are precious few players with a deep enough understanding of the laws for our arguments to be resolved, but many times it's the players who also act as umpires. Now we can consult a team of expert experienced umpires for the answers to those tricky questions.

You can submit your own questions to the umpires here.

Runs on a big ground

"We were playing on a huge cricket ground, where I was scoring. One of our batsmen hit the ball towards the boundary and both of them started to run. The fielder obviously thought that the ball was going for four and more or less gave up chasing it. By the time the ball eventually trickled over the boundary the batsmen had run four and crossed on their fifth. I recorded five runs, was I right?”

Recording five runs was correct, because they had crossed on the fifth before the ball went over the boundary.

If the fielder had attempted to keep the runs down to four by ‘assisting’ the ball over the boundary, perhaps by kicking it, the boundary four created by this deliberate act would be added to any runs completed by the batsmen, together with the one in progress if they had crossed.

Law 19.6 The over (Open Learning Manual Page 57)

Direct hit penalised?

"I saw an example of really brilliant fielding. The batsman hit the ball and called for a quick single. Cover point made a lot of ground very rapidly, picked up the ball, and threw it on the run, with only one stump to aim at. The ball flattened the stumps at the bowler’s end. There was an appeal for Run out, which was not given. Meanwhile, the ricochet had sent the ball into the deep and the batsmen ran another two. This doesn’t seem fair. What do you think?”

There is a strong argument for rewarding such superb fielding by declaring the ball dead. But there are also occasions when a fielder throws down the stumps when there is no possibility of dismissing a batsman. Should the batting side be denied the chance of taking further runs when the fielding is poor?

Law 23 Dead ball (Open Learning Manual Page 73)