Lancashire opener Phil Salt failed an on-field bat check on Friday (July 4). Could he and his team be penalised for it?
Phil Salt fails on-field bat check in Blast game
Salt returned to Lancashire's squad alongside fellow international Jos Buttler, for their first Blast game since 2024 and 2023 respectively. Having elected to bat, Northamptonshire scored 177, the innings ending with four wickets in a row; including a hat-trick for Saqib Mahmood, who took 4-49.
Salt kicked off Lancashire's chase, opening the batting with skipper Keaton Jennings. He faced the first over from David Willey, hitting two boundaries. At the end of the over, on-field umpires Rob Bailey and Simon Widdup carried out a routine, random on-field check of Salt's bat.
“He's in big trouble,” said one of the commentators on the match live stream. “The umpire's brought the bat gauge out, to measure the legality of Phil Salt's cricket bat, and it's not going through. That normally effects penalty points, doesn't it?”
Could Phil Salt be penalised for his bat not fitting the gauge?
There is precedent for a punishment; not for the player himself, but for the team. In last year's County Championship, Essex were docked 12 points after Feroze Khushi's bat did not fit the gauge.
In last year's T20 Blast, Worcestershire's Josh Cobb also failed an on-field bat test, and the club were docked two points for the following season (i.e., the one ongoing). The points deduction was later suspended after the club appealed the decision.
Article 4.36 of the ECB's Professional Conduct Regulations states that “contravention of Playing Conditions 5 or 41.2 shall be regarded as: unfair and improper conduct and therefore a breach of Regulation 3.1; and conduct prejudicial to the interests of cricket and likely to bring the game into disrepute and therefore a breach of Regulation 3.2.” Article 5 of the playing conditions refers to the appropriate measurements of the bat.
Read more: Explained: Why the umpires were checking bat sizes during the RR-RCB IPL game
Therefore, as in the case of Cobb, Salt's bat not fitting the gauge could lead to a points deduction for Lancashire. However, the judgement in Cobb's case mentions, “The bat was confiscated and kept in the Umpires’ Room. In further tests carried out at the end of the day’s play by the umpire and the player, the bat again failed the tests.”
Assuming the same process was followed in Salt's case, it is possible that his bat may have passed tests carried out at the end of the day; in which case a penalty may not be imposed. Those results have not been released, so at this point the threat still looms.
After swapping the illegal bat for an alternative, Salt went on to score 80 off 57 balls. Buttler also scored 54 as Lancashire got over the line with five wickets and three balls to spare.
Match 75, Northamptonshire vs Lancashire
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- Ball by ball Over
Image credit: YouTube / Steelbacks TV
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