Association of Cricket Officials Issue 30 | Page 13

Law 25 – Batsman’s Innings; Runners • A runner acting for an injured batsman must have part of his/her bat or person grounded behind the popping crease until the ball reaches the striker or passes the popping crease. If a runner is in breach of this then the umpire at striker’s end should follow the procedure as for the disallowance of Leg byes. Law 33 – Caught; Law 39 – Stumped • When worn, helmets do not make the ball dead when hit – it is now possible for a batsman to be caught or stumped directly from a fielder’s or, in the case of stumped, wicketkeeper’s helmet. Law 41.5 – Deliberate Distraction, Deception or Obstruction of Batsman • This has been extended to include any attempt to deceive either batsman. This would include any ‘mock fielding’ where a fielder feigns to field or throw the ball in an attempt to prevent the batsmen running, or where a fielder feigns not to have fielded the ball in an attempt to deceive the batsmen into running and effect a run out. The penalty for this is the immediate award of five penalty runs to the batting side and report (in the next issue of the magazine we will provide a refresher on how to report). Law 41.6 – Bowling of Dangerous and Unfair Short-pitched Deliveries Law 41.7 – Bowling of Dangerous and Unfair Non-pitching Deliveries • Dangerous and unfair bowling (previously Law 42.6) has been split to differentiate between short-pitched and non-pitching deliveries. • The need for ‘repetition’ when dealing with short-pitched deliveries has been removed and it is now possible to invoke the procedure of No ball and warning after only one such dangerous delivery. • The second and final warning has been removed from both those categories of bowling but it is not cumulative (ie the types are treated separately). • A non-pitching delivery which passes or would have passed above waist height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease is now deemed to be dangerous, regardless of the pace of the delivery. Law 41.15 – Striker in Protected Area • The concept of the ‘protected area’ has been extended to include the striker. He/she shall not be allowed to adopt a stance in the protected area or so close to it that encroachment is inevitable when playing a shot. This does not prevent the striker advancing into the protected area to play a shot. Law 41.16 – Non-striker Leaving His/Her Ground Early • The emphasis has been changed to put the onus on the non-striker to remain in their ground until the bowler would normally be expected to deliver the ball. It is now possible for the bowler to run out the non-striker up to that point, with no warning required. Law 42 – Player Conduct • This is a new Law introducing on-field sanctions for unacceptable player conduct. This is split into four levels with sanctions ranging from a warning for a Level 1 offence through to directing the captain to remove an offending player from the field for the remainder of the match. • All levels of offence carry mandatory reporting in addition to the on-field punishment. The above notes are intended to cover the Law changes most likely to be encountered in recreational cricket from a player’s perspective. They are not exclusive or exhaustive and members are recommended to refer to the e-learning section of the MCC website (www.lords.org/mcc/laws-of-cricket/) for full details of all the Law changes that came into force on 1 October. ECB is to provide guidance for how these should be implemented in order to maximise more play. Leagues and competitions are likely to amend their own regulations, and members should continue to familiarise themselves with these in advance of the season. email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 13