List of unusual dismissals in international cricket


In cricket, a player is dismissed when they lose their wicket. At this point, the batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently. A batsman can be dismissed in a number of ways, the most common being bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped, run out and hit wicket. Much rarer are hit the ball twice, obstructing the field, retired out and timed out. These are regarded by analysts as unusual ways of dismissals in cricket, where the bowler is denied any credit. Handled the ball was a previously a separate method of dismissal, now encompassed into obstructing the field. As of September 2017, there have been twenty-two instances of players being dismissed unusually in international cricket: ten in Test cricket, nine in One Day Internationals, one in Twenty20 Internationals and two in Women's One Day International cricket.

Test cricket

In Tests, England batsman Leonard Hutton was the first player to be dismissed for obstructing the field, while playing against South Africa in August 1951. Between January 1957 and March 2001, six different players were dismissed for handling the ball, the most common form of an unusual dismissal. Sri Lanka cricketers Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene are the only Test players to be dismissed retired out, when playing against Bangladesh in 2001. Sri Lanka's captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, received strong criticism for the team's act.
No.PlayerDismissalRunsTeamOppositionVenueMatchDateResult
1Obstructing the field27The Oval, London, England5th Test16 August 1951Won
2Handled the ball3Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, South Africa2nd Test1 January 1957Lost
3Handled the ball29W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth, Australia2nd Test24 March 1979Won
4Handled the ball58National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan22 September 1982Won
5Handled the ball55Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India4th Test24 November 1983Drawn
6Handled the ball133Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester, England1st Test3 June 1993Lost
7Handled the ball47M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India3rd Test18 March 2001Lost
8Retired out201Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka6 September 2001Won
9Retired out150Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka6 September 2001Won
10Handled the ball64M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, India3rd Test19 December 2001Drawn

Men's One Day International cricket

In men's ODIs, nine different players have been dismissed on ten occasions in an unusual manner. The first such occasion was when India's Mohinder Amarnath was given out for handling the ball, against Australia in February 1986. The following year, Pakistan cricketer Rameez Raja became the first player to be given out for obstructing the field in ODIs. In 1989, Amarnath was dismissed in the same fashion, while playing in a match against Sri Lanka, thus becoming the first player to be dismissed by two different unusual methods. Obstructing the field has been the most common method of unusual dismissal in men's ODIs, happening on six of the nine occasions. Zimbabwe's Chamu Chibhabha is the most recent male cricketer to be dismissed in an unusual way, when he was given out for handling the ball in a match against Afghanistan in October 2015.
No.PlayerDismissalRunsTeamOppositionVenueMatchDateResult
1Handled the ball15Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia2nd Final9 February 1986Lost
2Obstructing the field99National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan2nd ODI20 November 1987Lost
3Obstructing the field28Gujarat Stadium, Ahmedabad, IndiaODI22 October 1989Won
4Handled the ball46Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban, South Africa27 January 1999Won
5Obstructing the field16Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar, Pakistan1st ODI6 February 2006Won
6Obstructing the field0Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban, South Africa4th ODI21 March 2013Won
7Obstructing the field0St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa2nd ODI27 November 2013Won
8Obstructing the field10Lord's, London, England2nd ODI5 September 2015Lost
9Handled the ball18Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe3rd ODI20 October 2015Won
10Obstructing the field34Sharjah Cricket Stadium, SharjahODI8 December 2019Won

T20I cricket

The first instance of an unusual dismissal in T20Is occurred in June 2017, when England's Jason Roy was given out obstructing the field in a match against South Africa.
No.PlayerDismissalRunsTeamOppositionVenueMatchDateResult
1Obstructing the field67County Ground, Taunton, England2nd T20I23 June 2017Lost
2Obstructing the field16Al Amerat Cricket Stadium, Muscat, OmanT20I23 January 2019Lost
3Retired out24Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, KirtipurT20I7 December 2019Lost

Women's ODI cricket

In international Women's cricket, there have been two instances of unusual dismissals: the first came in an ODI match between Sri Lanka and the West Indies in April 2010. Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Dilani Manodara was retired out due to her slow scoring rate in her team's first innings, having taken 70 minutes and 39 balls to score 8 runs. The most recent instance of an unusual dismissal happened when India's Thirush Kamini was given out for obstructing the field in a match against West Indies.
No.PlayerDismissalRunsTeamOppositionVenueMatchDateResult
1Retired out8St Paul's Sporting Complex, St Paul's, St Kitts and Nevis1st ODI18 April 2010Lost
2Obstructing the field2Mulupadu Cricket Ground, Vijayawada, India2nd ODI13 November 2016Won