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Consider the third scenario asked in this question, where it has been established that the throw by the first fielder is overthrows.

Two fielders are running behind the ball. The first slides, stops the ball and wants to pass it to the second fielder. But his throw misses the second fielder and the ball rolls over the boundary ropes.

Assuming that the throw by the first fielder goes directly over the boundary ropes instead of rolling over, how many overthrow runs are given to the batting side? Is it 4 or are 6 runs given as the throw does not touch any part of the playing surface before getting grounded? Also, is there any instance of where a fielder has thrown (overthrows) a ball directly over the boundary ropes?

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

To answer the first part, it will be always a 4 since the ball has already touched the ground after leaving the bat. It doesn't matter if the fielder has thrown the ball above the boundary ropes instead of rolling over. If the ball never touched the ground and fielder throws it over the rope, it will be a 6.

As per the Laws:

the allowances for boundaries shall be 6 runs if the ball having been struck by the bat pitches beyond the boundary, but otherwise 4 runs.

For the second part, I am not sure if any fielder has purposefully thrown the ball above boundary rope but I have seen in many matches that while trying to take a catch, the ball bounces from the fielder's hand and goes over the rope which is called as a 6. This has happened in a recent match of RR vs DD in IPL.

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There have been situations in which fielders have deliberately thrown the ball over the rope, generally to keep a tailender on strike. Law 19.7 on wilful acts by the fielder is there to prevent this kind of gamesmanship as it means that (e.g.) the batsmen get both the single to ensure the top-order batsman on strike, and the four runs for the boundary, just as with overthrows. –  Philip Kendall Dec 22 '14 at 22:26

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