Cricket’s on-field protests over the years have not necessarily been conventional – here are some of the more unusual ones.
Throughout history, cricketers have protested for various reasons. Arjuna Ranatunga led the Sri Lanka team off the ground when Ross Emerson no-balled Muttiah Muralidaran at Adelaide in 1998/99. Bishan Singh Bedi (Sahiwal, 1978/79) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (The Oval, 2006) chose to concede entire matches to protest against umpiring decisions.
Teams (and cricketers) have refused to take the field to demand more payment. They have also refused to tour or play (Pakistan against India at the 2026 T20 World Cup is a recent example), of which we have already compiled the World Cup list in these pages. However, these do not qualify for this piece, as they took place off the pitch.
From Andy Flower and Henry Olonga to Usman Khawaja, cricketers have donned black armbands to protest, often being aware of the repercussions. And there have been a list of handshakes turned down, of which two took place in 2025. And then, there were the unusual ones.
Exit on horseback
Barring some attempts by Tom Walker of Hambledon, bowling used to be underarm until the early 19th century. Then, some bowlers tried the roundarm – where they could raise their arm up to shoulder level. In 1816, the MCC tried to stop these attempts by legislating that the ball must be “delivered underhand, with the hand below the elbow”. The penalty would be a no-ball.
That did not stop John Willes of Kent, a pioneer of roundarm bowling. At Lord’s on July 15, 1822, he attempted roundarm ... and became the first bowler to be no-balled for throwing in first-class cricket history. He immediately left the ground “in high dudgeon”, mounted his horse (parked outside the ground, one can presume), and did not play first-class cricket again.
The efforts of Willes and his successors worked: roundarm became legalised in 1835 and overarm (what we see now) in 1864.
Chucking in protest
This, too, involved being no-balled for a deliberate act. Across 25,749 balls in first-class cricket (including 4,164 in Tests for India) Abid Ali was no-balled exactly once – at Christchurch in 1967/68. Following on, India collapsed from 186-3 to 301 against Gary Bartlett (6-38), whose action the Indians felt was not clean. “All the Indian players, including myself, considered Bartlett’s action to be suspect,” reminisced captain MAK Pataudi. But neither Dick Shortt nor Fred Goodall no-balled Bartlett.
New Zealand needed only 88 to win the Test, which they got for the loss of four wickets. During the brief chase, Abid deliberately threw a ball to protest against the umpires ignoring Bartlett’s action: Goodall called a no-ball.
Walking off and returning
By early 1971, the signs of cricket ostracising South Africa loomed large, though there had been no official announcement. The South African Cricket Association proposed to include two non-White cricketers in their squad for Australia tour. On April 2, the SACA revealed that their own government had cancelled the idea. The next day, Currie Cup champions Transvaal faced The Rest of South Africa in a star-studded affair at Newlands.
The decision had been made long before. Barry Richards and Brian Bath ran a single off the first ball of the match, bowled by Mike Procter to Richards. Then everyone walked off the ground. Ron Delport, the manager of the fielding side, now handed a statement to an SACA official. It had been signed by cricketers of both sides: “We fully support the South African Cricket Association’s application to invite non-whites to tour Australia, if they are good enough; and further subscribe to merit being the only criterion on the cricket field.”
The cricketers soon returned and the mach resumed, but the walkout found sufficient media coverage. National captain Ali Bacher (not part of the game) voiced his support, but Frank Warring, minister of sports, called it “merely a gesture for local and, particularly, overseas consumption.”
It did not work. South Africa remained off international cricket (barring a home series against New Zealand Women in early 1972) for two decades.
Black armbands over non-payment
From the Australians of 1884/85 (when the board replaced all 11 players) to the BPL controversies of the 2020s, teams and cricketers have protested against the administrators over payment. However, the Indian team did none of that when Australia Women toured in 1984/85.
The cricketers, including stalwarts like Diana Edulji and Shantha Rangaswamy, requested pocket allowance. The Women’s Cricket Association of India refused even that on the grounds that it was “strictly an amateur sport”. So the cricketers took field in black armbands for the first Test match in Delhi.
Wides and no-balls
Lalmatia Club were bowled out for 88 against Axiom Cricketers in a Dhaka league third tier game in 2017. Unhappy with the umpiring, the Lalmatia cricketers resorted to an unusual response. Their opening bowler Sujon Mahmud sent down 20 balls, but only four of these were legal. He bowled 65 wides and 15 no-balls, conceding 92 in four balls.
“My captain was not allowed to see the coin and we were sent to bat first and as expected, the umpires’ decisions came against us,” Lalmatia general secretary Adnan Ahmed told Dhaka Tribune. “My players are young, aged around 17, 18 and 19. They could not tolerate the injustice and thus reacted by giving away 92 runs in four deliveries.”
