Perth Scorchers respond after Ricky Ponting bemoans Mitch Marsh move in BBL rules controversy

The Perth Scorchers have confirmed to Yahoo Sport Australia that Finn Allen and Mitch Marsh were unable to take the field on Thursday night in the BBL due to injury concerns. It comes after Ricky Ponting publicly questioned in commentary whether the Scorchers might have bent the rules with the two cricket stars.

Allen blasted a stunning century of 101 off 53 balls, while Marsh made 20 off 15 in the Scorchers' 50-run win over Melbourne Renegades. After opening the batting in the first innings, neither Finn or Marsh took the field when the Scorchers were bowling in the second. The Scorchers have told Yahoo that Finn was suffering from cramps, while Marsh was resting his ankle after being hit by the ball while running between wickets.

"I had a little bit of a hammy niggle on this side in Hobart earlier in the year, so it was just a little bit of a scare," Allen told AAP after the match. "It was just cramp, but I didn't want to take the risk. (Marsh's injury) was just an external blow to the heel like we saw in the footage. I think he'll be OK."

The Scorchers have sealed their spot in the BBL finals, so wouldn't have wanted to risk Finn or Allen copping an unnecessary injury in the field. But speaking in commentary for Channel 7, Ponting questioned whether they were bending the rules.

After noticing that Marsh wasn't fielding he said: "I believe we need an explanation for that. You can't just bat and say you're not going to field.

"He has to be injured or the third umpire will tap him on the shoulder and say 'you've got to get on the field'. He can't be off. There's actually a rule in the game. You can't just decide you want to sit on the sidelines and someone else do the fielding for you."

After asking the Perth Scorchers for an explanation, Theo Doropoulos reported: "Finn is cramping in all sorts of places, he said. In his thumb particularly, he said his left thumb he can't quite apply any sort of pressure to field the ball and across his quads and that hip area that he sort of wrenched in one of his magnificent sixes."

Ricky Ponting not happy with Mitch Marsh absence

Doropoulos revealed that Marsh jokingly said Ponting could "mind his own business" when asked about his injury. But it didn't go down well with the Aussie legend.

"I'm not having a bar of that," Ponting said. "Even with Finn Allen, I didn't see a cramp hold him back one second when batting. If it's in his thumb, fine, but you can't just bat and then sit on the sidelines. If you have two gun fielders out on the ground, that is not part of the game and the umpires should be doing something about it."

The Scorchers had two sub fielders replacing Marsh and Allen, and one of them (Brody Couch) took a catch to dismissed Renegades danger-man Jake Fraser McGurk. Ponting asked co-commentator Glenn Maxwell if he'd be questioning the umpires if he was playing in the game for the opposition.

"I definitely would," Maxwell said. "You want to make sure that the 11 that you're playing against is out there on the field. You see that happen quite regularly, I feel like, where teams can take advantage of it and that's not what we want to see."

Ponting concluded: "As far as I'm concerned, that's taking the mickey and that's not good enough for a tournament perspective anyway."

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