Association of Cricket Officials Issue 30 | Page 9

Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake appeals to the umpire for a ‘Mankad’-style run out of Jos Buttler at the non-striker’s end. The existing Law allows the bowler to run out the non-striker before he enters his delivery stride, and has been (thankfully) responsible for effectively eradicating the ‘Mankad’ from the recreational game for 17 years. Roughly 10 years ago, the professional game extended the time frame to when the bowler would normally have released the ball, in order to combat an increasing trend of non-strikers leaving their ground early. Pressing the ‘pause’ button as a bowler releases the ball in any international 50-50 or T20, especially in the closing overs, will demonstrate that this extension has substantially failed to achieve its objective. Further, whenever a ‘Mankad’ is performed in the professional game it is highly controversial and is often vilified. The new proposal was to retain the existing Law, but to put control also in the hands of the umpires: if either umpire is satisfied that the non-striker is leaving his ground significantly early, play is allowed to continue, to allow the fielding side to take a wicket, but once the ball is dead, or after completion of the first run, all runs (other than penalties) resulting from the delivery would be disallowed by the umpires. A significant reduction in both the frequency and degree of non-compliance from non-strikers would be highly likely. When this idea was first introduced there was initial reluctance to accept it because of the problem of TV replays which could cause problems with what was perceived as a line decision. It was pointed out that the Laws were predominantly for the recreational game, and that the professional game could attempt to solve the problem in a different way using a different playing regulation. Gradually opinion changed, there was a majority in favour of change on the Sub-Committee and there were several supporting it on the Cricket Committee. However, the ICC Cricket Committee came down strongly against the idea as being unrealistic at their level, and eventually the MCC Cricket committee rejected it. At recreational level, the new proposal would have provided an effective deterrent and would, in my view as an experienced umpire, have been entirely workable, especially if managed with a ‘friendly warning’ in the first instance. Instead, MCC has decided to change the Law to the professional playing condition, which will reintroduce the ‘Mankad’ to the recreational game, which in turn is likely to lead to further controversy and ridicule. For an example, see the video of the incident in the Zimbabwe v West Indies Under-19 match in the recent World Cup which would be legal under the new Law and which led to almost universal condemnation at the time. Mark Williams, former MCC Laws of Cricket Advisor The gloves are off – Law 42 has been introduced to tackle player behaviour. email us at [email protected] contact us on 0121 446 2710 9