Brisbane Heat found themselves at the unfortunate end of the spectrum during their Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) game against Sydney Sixers as they copped a five-run penalty in a rare occurrence while playing at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Tuesday, November 21.
The incident happened during the 10th over of Sydney's run chase. On the second delivery of the over, Ashleigh Gardner came dancing down the track and manoeuvered a flighted delivery from Kerr to long-on. The long-on fielder fielded the ball cleanly and launched an aerial throw towards Kerr who was standing right next to the stumps at the non-striker's end.
Kerr tried to catch the throw using a towel which she was using otherwise to clean the ball and keep it dry despite the dew on the outfield. Umpire Joshua Adie penalised Heat for violating law 28.2.1.2 which states, "A fielder will be deemed to have fielded the ball illegally if, while the ball is in play he/she wilfully extends his/her clothing with his/her hands and uses this to field the ball."
Watch the video:
Kerr's unintentional error came back to haunt Heat as the pair of Mathilda Carmichael (28* off balls) and Maitlan Brown (21* off 15 balls) secured the victory for Sixers by six wickets with a ball to spare. The win has brought the Ellyse Perry-led side closer to Heat on the points table.
Heat have won seven out of 13 games and have aggregated a total of 14 points with seven wins and six losses. The Jess Jonassen-led Heat are fourth on the points table whereas Sixers have climbed to the fifth spot with 12 points after 13 matches.
Adelaide Strikers are at the helm with 18 points after 12 games. Strikers have won nine ties and only conceded three games thus far in the season.
