'Mankading' Is Now Legal As MCC Amends The Laws
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-03-10 04:14:11
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
Finally, the MCC has seen light and removed the tag of 'unfair play' from the action of a bowler running out a non-striker for advancing too far before the delivery is bowled. Although for long the purists have said that such a dismissal was against the spirit of cricket, it is increasingly being recognized by players (India's Ravichandran Ashwin being the strongest advocate) that with new formats evolving where each run matters, batters gain an unfair advantage if they gain two or three metres before the delivery is bowled. Hence, they say that it is perfectly legal for bowlers to run them out. The MCC has recognized this and has moved the law from Law 41 (unfair play) to Law 38 (run out). This was long overdue and is welcome. It also removes the stigma attached to Indian great Vinoo Mankad who was the first to run out Australian wicketkeeper Bill Brown in this fashion. Since then, any such dismissal was derisively termed as 'Mankading'.
The MCC has also banned the use of saliva to polish the ball to make it swing. Recognizing the fact that some fielders can eat "sugary sweets to alter their saliva" which can result in an unfair advantage for the bowler, the MCC has said that from now on, using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the condition of the ball.
In the other changes, the MCC has made the status of replacement players equal to that of the player he or she replaces. It has also clarified on the law for judging a wide and has confirmed that a wide will be declared based on the position where the batter is standing when the bowler begins his run up and the position of the batter at the time the bowler enters the delivery stride will not matter. This was also needed as batters have a tendency to move before the ball is bowled and it makes it difficult for the umpires to declare a wide if the ball is too close to the batter after it is bowled. With this amendment, the umpires can freely declare a wide based on the position of the batter at the start of a bowlers run up.
The other amendments are for changing the status of the ball in certain circumstances from being a no-ball to a dead ball. These, as MCC has said, happen in extremely rare scenarios. But another important change is that now 5 penalty runs will be awarded to the batting side if a fielder moves unfairly after the bowler starts his run up but before the delivery is bowled.
