At the instant of the throw

Law 19 does two jobs. It says when a ball has reached the boundary, which for a ball on the ground is simple and for a ball in the air depends on the fielder. And it says how many runs a boundary is worth, which is usually four and sometimes, under clause 19.8, something else.

Where the fielder is

Clause 19.5.1 lists what it means to be grounded beyond the boundary. Contact with the boundary itself or any part of an object marking it. Contact with the ground beyond it. Contact with any object that is in contact with that ground. And contact with another fielder who is grounded beyond, if the umpire considers the contact was intended to help field the ball.

The list runs outward from the rope. The rope, the ground past it, a thing on that ground, a person on that ground. A fielder touching any of them while touching the ball has carried the ball over the boundary.

The fourth item is the only one with a condition on it. Two fielders touching each other beyond the rope is not enough; the umpire has to consider that one of them meant the contact to assist. It is the single place in the clause where intent enters, and it enters to close a gap rather than open one.

The fielder in the air

Clause 19.5.2 covers the fielder who is touching nothing. A fielder not in contact with the ground is grounded beyond the boundary "if his/her final contact with the ground, before his/her first contact with the ball after it has been delivered by the bowler, was not entirely within the boundary".

Read it twice. The test is the last contact before the first touch of the ball. A fielder who jumps from inside the rope and takes the ball in the air has not been grounded beyond it at that moment. A fielder who steps on the rope, then jumps, then takes the ball, has.

What happens after the catch is a question for Law 33, which says a catch is fair only if neither the ball nor any fielder holding it is grounded beyond the boundary before the catch is complete.

What an overthrow is worth

Clause 19.8 is the one that decided a World Cup. "If the boundary results from an overthrow or from the wilful act of a fielder, the runs scored shall be any runs for penalties awarded to either side and the allowance for the boundary and the runs completed by the batters, together with the run in progress if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act."

Four things are added. Penalties, if any. The boundary allowance. The runs the batters had completed. And the run in progress, but only "if they had already crossed at the instant of the throw or act".

The instant of the throw. Not the instant the ball hit the bat, or the fielder, or crossed the rope. The moment the fielder let go of it. Where the two batters were relative to each other at that moment is the whole question, and the Law answers it in a way that requires somebody to have been watching the batters and not the ball.

The one that was counted

At Lord's in 2019 an overthrow was signalled six, and the piece on that final sets out what the card records and what was said afterwards. This piece is about the clause it turned on, and the clause is clear about one thing above all: the run in progress counts only if the batters had crossed when the ball left the fielder's hand. Whether they had is a fact. Whether anybody was looking is the other piece.

Clause 19.8 is not an obscure provision. It is the fourth item in a list of what an overthrow is worth, and the list is short enough to read from the middle. It was written for a fielder throwing at the stumps and missing, which happens in most matches, and it says what it says whether the match is a World Cup final or not.

Law 19, Boundaries: MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code →

Law 33, Caught: MCC Laws of Cricket, 2017 Code →

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No. 6 in By the Book, a series of 17.

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