Boundary throw-ins make a return

THE way the ball is brought back into play after going out of bounds will once again be a throw-in by a boundary umpire.

Last year a rule was introduced to have play restart via a ball-up performed by the field umpires 10 to 15 metres in from the boundary.

The change was made in a bid to help clubs as it meant there was one less volunteer they needed to find poor to a match.

Feedback during last season was that players preferred a boundary throw-in to get play started again.

If field umpires find on match day that a boundary umpire is unable to throw the ball in far enough, they can elect to perform a ball-up.

If a club does not provide a boundary umpire, all boundary throw-ins on that side of the ground where there isn’t a boundary umpire will be performed by a player from the team that doesn’t have a boundary umpire.