Image Credit- Getty
Scotland’s left-arm spinner Mark Watt will bowl his signature variation from 24 yards in their crucial match against Australia on Saturday night, even though he was reportedly dead-balled when he attempted to do so against Oman the previous week.
Watt regularly bowls from behind the bowling crease to throw batters off: “It’s just trying to rush [batters],” he has explained. “By the time I’ve let it go, the batsman looks up and the ball’s halfway down the wicket.” He has enjoyed great success with it, most notably when it helped him take all three of his wickets in a victory against the West Indies at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
However, umpire Chris Brown twice declared “dead ball” when Watt bowled his 24-yarder during Scotland’s seven-wicket victory over Oman on Sunday, with batsman Khalid Kail backing away on both instances. After the second of the two balls struck the top of middle stump, umpire Brown was questioned by both Watt and captain Richie Berrington.
Watt suggested that Kail had been “a bit sneaky” in backing away, a view shared by Tom Moody on the ICC’s commentary. “The batter’s looking up. He’s ready. To me, that is a legitimate ball,” Moody said. “The ball is live. As soon as the batter has placed his bat down and faces up, looks up to the bowler, he’s ready to go.”
There was some confusion in the Scotland camp as to why Watt had been dead-balled. “He does it a lot, and he’s taken a lot of wickets with it,” Michael Leask, the allrounder, said on Friday. “I think they might have given the batter one warning, but they perceived that he wasn’t looking, [when] the video showed that he clearly was looking.”
There has been some speculation regarding whether Watt may legally bowl from behind the bowler’s end umpire, with the MCC and ICC interpreting the situation somewhat differently. Either way, umpire Brown was in front of the two balls that were declared dead against Oman.
Leask said that Watt would not be deterred by the decision to dead-ball him: “He will be doing it again. I can guarantee he will bowl more than one against Australia. It’s almost the element of surprise… It’s also how good he is at holding his length. It still spins, it’s just that fraction longer. Man, it’s horrible to face, even for us in the nets. You know it’s coming, every two minutes.”