The basics of cricket includes a bowler bowling a legal delivery by bouncing the ball on a 22 yard pitch to the other end towards the batsman. The batsman tries to hit the ball to score runs and defend his wicket.
In most cases, a ball bounces once before it reaches the batsman. In some other instances, the bowler bowls in a way that the bowl does not bounce and directly reaches the batsman. This type of delivery is legal if it is below the waist-level of the batsman. But what happens when a ball bounces more than once on the pitch?
The second bounce
The answer to this is determined by where the second bounce took place with respect to the crease at the batsman’s end. If the second bounce took place after the ball crosses the crease at the batsman’s end, it is a legal delivery. However, if the second bounce takes place before the batsman’s crease, it is a no-ball.
Earlier, a no-ball was called when the ball bounced more than twice. The modern rule came into force in the 2000s. It was implemented at least after the 2003 World Cup.
At the International scenario
A couple of notable instances of the double bounce took place with regards to the second bounce. One occurence was in the 1999 exhibition match between England and President’s XI. The other one was at the 2003 World Cup match between Australia and New Zealand. In the 1999 match, Mark Taylor bowled a double bounce delivery that went on to hit the stumps. Even though the modern rule had not come into force back then, the umpire called it a no-ball. In the 2003 match, Andre Adams of New Zealand bowled a double bounce ball that was struck for a six by the Australian batsman.
