Being given out `Handled the Ball' is one of the most fascinating and controversial Laws of Cricket, and one of the least frequent forms of dismissal for batsmen. There have been 40 instances at first-class level (23 in the last 20 years), five in Test matches.

The modern version of Law 33 states that the batsman is given out `If he wilfully touches the ball while in play with the hand not holding the bat, unless he does so with the consent of the opposite side.' The dismissal is entered in the scorebook as `Handled the Ball' and the wicket is not credited to the bowler.

The original Law is of great antiquity and appears in the 1744 Code of Laws as follows: `If the striker touches or takes up the Ball before it has lain quite still, unless asked by the Bowler or Wicketkeeper, it's out.'

An early instance of the Law in action appears in the Kentish Weekly Post, Sept 8, 1797, where a member of the Strood club, a Mr Horn, is recorded as being out `Handled Ball in play'.

Of the five instances in Tests, those concerning W. R. Endean ( South Africa) and A. M. J. Hilditch ( Australia) are the most interesting, the other three being Mohsin Khan ( Pakistan), Desmond Haynes ( West Indies), and, of course, Graham Gooch.

 Russell Endean was playing in the Second Test against England at Cape Town on Jan 1–5, 1957. He padded away a ball from Laker which spun up towards the stumps then used his hand to deflect it. Curiously, he was also involved in the strange dismissal of Len Hutton in the fifth Test at The Oval in 1951. Hutton struck a ball from spinner Athol Rowan a second time, preventing wicketkeeper Endean from making a catch. He was given out `Obstructing the Field'.

The unfortunate Andrew Hilditch was playing in a Test against Pakistan at Perth in 1979. After having scored 29, he picked up the ball and tossed it to the bowler, Sarfraz Nawaz. The latter appealed and Hilditch was given out. As Richie Benaud commented in his book On Reflection (1984), he was the `victim of an appalling mockery of the spirit of cricket' and `It must have been a pleasant series.' A slightly different version of the incident appears in Imran Khan's book All Round View (1988). He states that Hilditch intercepted a wayward return from a fielder before handing it to Sarfraz. The first such incident, on June 8, 1857, is mentioned in Kent Cricket Matches, 1719–1880 by Lord Harris. In a match between MCC Club & Ground and Kent at Lord's, James Grundy, after playing a ball, hit it away with his hand. After his dismissal he bowled 54 balls for three runs and took two wickets.

Finally, William Scotton, the Notts and England player, became a victim of the Law in a bizarre match at Melbourne. Scotton was a left-hander who probably had the straightest bat of his time and a very strong defence. He was selected for three tours of Australia, the last under the captaincy of Arthur Shrewsbury.

In March, 1887, the team were in Melbourne for the final leg of the tour. But the match against Victoria clashed with a vital race meeting, which ruined the attendance. It had been intended to play a third match against Combined Australia, but the New South Wales players were unable to come. So the curious Smokers v Non-Smokers match was substituted, the England team being mixed with the Victorians.

The Non-smokers hit 803 runs at about 100 per hour. On the final day Scotton had to receive the last ball and was anxious to acquire it as a memento of the match. He played it gently to point and ran to pick it up. The Non-Smokers appealed and he was given out.

Since this article appeared there have been other instances of batsmen being given out 'handled the ball', the most recent being Michael Vaughan against India in 2001-02

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