I was recently asked to clarify a matter that occurred at a match concerning a run out and whether the bat was grounded behind the popping crease, even though later it bounced up in the air. I was asked ‘was the batter out or not out?’

First let me establish what is the batter’s ground. This is the area beyond the popping crease in which the batter must have grounded some part of his/her person or bat in hand within the popping crease and not on the actual crease marking

A new law came in a few years ago whereby the batter is not out, run out if in running or diving towards his/her ground and beyond, and having grounded some part of his/her person or bat beyond the popping crease, there is subsequent loss of contact between the ground and any part of his/her person or between bat and person.

When running or diving in an attempt to make good his/her ground, it is often the bat which makes first contact with the batter’s ground. If it hits an uneven patch or a bowler’s footmark as the batter is sliding it in, it could bounce up losing contact with the ground. In an extreme case the bat could be forced out of the batter’s hand altogether. As long as the bat has made contact beyond the popping crease before the bat bounced up then he is not out.

However, the batsman must not be in the process of turning to start another run.

A batter is not out if he has made good his ground and then moves out of it to avoid an injury and the wicket is broken. For example, a batter in his/her ground may fear that a ball thrown to the wicketkeeper may hit his/her ankle and jump up in the air to avoid being hurt.

If the wicket is put down while he/she is in the air, the batter will not be run out.

A batter may also move out of his/her ground to avoid a collision with a player or umpire.

An umpire has to decide if the batter had been in his/her ground and did he/she leave it to avoid injury. If yes then he/she is not out.

The answer to the question above was the batsman quite rightly was given not out.