Hobart Hurricanes hit with five-run penalty due to Tim David's short run

Hobart Hurricanes were hit with a rare five-run penalty in their Big Bash League match against Melbourne Stars at Bellerive Oval on Friday after batter Tim David was deemed to have deliberately run short in the last over of the home side's innings. This was the first time a five-run penalty had been enforced in the BBL, for any offence.

In what was the penultimate ball of the innings, David hit a yorker-length delivery from Brody Couch to long-on, and while at first glance it seemed like the batters had returned for two runs, it was soon evident that David had avoided finishing the first run in an effort to get back for the strike - his partner was No. 8 Nathan Ellis. As a result, what could have been at least one run, and possibly two, ended up being a dot ball. Not just that, for the deliberate act, David's team was slapped with five penalty runs under Law 18.5.1.

David kept the strike, though, and earned five more runs for his team - two off the regulation last ball, which was a full-toss that was a no-ball for height, and two more off the free hit. That took Hurricanes to 180 for 6, and Stars began their chase with five runs already on the board.

Adding to the drama, there was obvious chatter between the Stars players and David as the teams left the field at the end of Hurricanes' innings.

Peter Handscomb later said that the Hurricanes players felt somewhat aggrieved by the penalty. "Tim was just trying to get back to his end. He's a big boy and can hit sixes so it was his job to get back on strike," he told Fox Sports. "I've never heard that rule before but every day is a school day so you learn something."

Adam Gilchrist said on the Fox Sports broadcast that he had never seen that type of incident before and believed it was "not really in the spirit of the game. It was really quick umpiring to pick it up... good umpiring," he said.

Other instances of batters deliberately running short include Sri Lanka's Roshen Silva in a Test against England in 2018, and West Indies' Kieron Pollard in a match in IPL 2017.