It’s been part of Major League Baseball for decades, and now it’s coming to the Big Bash.
Well, sort of.
The new rule will come into effect when the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) begins this weekend and also be used in the Men’s competition, allowing fans to keep balls that fly into the crowd from a six or four—but only during the first over of each innings.
There’s no limit however, so should the batting team manage to send all six balls into the crowd during the opening over, six new balls will be supplied to the bowling side.
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In the interests of fairness, at the start of the second over of each innings a new ball will automatically be given to the bowling side regardless of how many balls have ended up in the crowd.
The ‘Keep the Ball’ promotion is being sponsored by Westpac who signed on as Cricket Australia’s bank sponsor earlier this year.
The 43-game WBBL|11 season gets underway on Sunday at 1.40pm AEDT (12.40pm local time) at Allan Border Field with a rematch of last season’s final between Brisbane Heat and WBBL|10 champions Melbourne Renegades.
The WBBL|11 final will be played on December 13.