The changed boundary

"My team played the second week of a Cup semi-final match last night and we were chasing a decent score. We noticed that the boundary was 5 to 10 metres further back than the previous week, when we were bowling. The opposing team refused to shorten the boundary to the same length as the previous week. As a result, we lost several runs (about 20) and also several wickets on the 'boundary' that would have been 6 runs last week. Unfortunately, we lost the match

How are we meant to deal with such a situation, especially when chasing a big total and there are no official umpires?"

It is good to hear that you didn't let this frustration prevent you from completing the match even though you lost.
Law 19 requires that the captains and umpires agree the boundary before the toss. After that, it is the responsibility of the umpires to ensure that all Laws and pre-toss agreements are adhered to. This principle must apply even if there are no appointed umpires, though, of course, player-umpires will have more difficulty in imposing themselves on captains and on ground authorities. Having completed the match, there is nothing that can be done under the Laws of Cricket to remedy this situation - once the scores have been agreed, the result cannot be changed (Law 21.10).

You should, however, refer the matter to the Authority responsible for the competition. They cannot change the result of the match, but they could, perhaps, (it would depend on the competition regulations and whether they were satisfied that the boundary had been set up differently when your side batted) choose to declare the conduct of the match to be invalid and order that it be replayed.





Read more about Law 19 (Boundaries) and Law 21.10 (The result) at the MCC website