Rule query

[dipper]

Playing Inter-league the other night, a player had just touched the peg with a ball and it had fallen over, the scorer then leaned over to see if the peg would still go on the spot, as he did this he accidentally knocked the affending ball out of the way, so he gave the ball back and the break to the opponent as the other ball had gone down.
As it happend one of the players was way ahead as not to complain, no chance of winning, but if it was a very close game what is to happen as he could not put the ball back where he thought it was as he did not know if it was covering the spot or not!!
Is there a rule for this, any ideas??

[BB Warrior]

AEBBA Rule 31 is probably the one that would cover this....

31. If the balls are disturbed in any way other than in the normal course of play, then the scorer should replace
the balls in what he/she considers to be their original positions and play should continue. If, in the opinion of the
scorer, a ball on the edge of the hole falls due to any accidental or deliberate table movement by the player, that the
ball be replaced and will not count and the break will end.

So the scorer should have replaced the ball where it was before they accidently knocked the ball out of the way.... unless it would have prevented the white peg being returned to its spot, in which case the scorer was correct to return the ball to the tray. :-/

[barbelman]

Rule 31 is not very satisfactory as it depends on the scorer remembering where the ball was but there is no real alternative to it.  In your case Dipper, common sense should prevail (as it did) and the chalker did the right thing and the only thing he could do IMHO - probably ;D

Tony

[dipper]

Its just that he did not know if the ball was covering the spot or not before he accidentally knocked the ball away.