MCC take steps towards normalising 'Mankad' at all age group levels, says bowler is not villain here

The law-makers of the game – the World Cricket Committee (WCC) of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), has taken a step in their attemptto normalise the 'Mankad’ or in other words ‘non-strikers being run-out by the bowler’ practice, across all age group levels.

The committee that comprises of some of the biggest names in cricket including Kumar Sangakkara, Sourav Ganguly, Justin Langer, Alastair Cook alongside chairman Mike Gatting, has urged this mode of dismissal to be accepted much like every other dismissal, saying the bowlers aren’t the villains here, and that the batter always has a choice to stay inside the crease until the ball is bowled.

After this certain mode of dismissal picked up a lot of heat lately following an incident in the Big Bash League (BBL) where Adam Zampa attempted to run-out non-striker Tom Rogers, the committee has called for calmness over ‘Mankad’ during their latest ICC meet in Dubai last week.The custodians of the laws of the game, the WCC of the MCC, has cleared it once and for all saying ‘Mankad’ is withinthe law books. It further claimed that the bowler is under no obligation to give a warning to the batter if he or she is out of the crease before the bowl is being bowled and that they can run the batter out in that case.

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"The bowler is not the villain here. Every batter has a choice; to stay in their ground, or risk being given out if they try to steal ground. If they choose the latter, they are the ones who are breaking the law," said Kumar Sangakkara.

Whereas, on the other hand, chairman Mike Gatting also said the batters must learn their responsibilities under the as quickly as possible so that they don’t make such mistakes again.

"Whilst attempts may increase in the short term, we would expect batters to learn their responsibilities under the laws very quickly and drive it out of prominence,” Gatting said.

"Our stance on this is simple – batters must not steal ground if they do not wish to be given out in this manner. Nor should they be expecting to be given a warning if they do. If all non-strikers only left the popping crease once the ball had been released, there would never be the need for such a dismissal again," the former English batter said.

Meanwhile, the WCC'sstatement also cleared the air around if the batter is wrong in his/her attempt to leave the crease in a hurry or whatever, saying that yes, it will be termed as the batter’s fault if they do so and get run-out, instead of the bowler facing unnecessary wrath for the same.

"The overriding factor is that there is a simple way that all confusion and controversy around this form of dismissal can be eradicated - by non-strikers complying with the law and remaining within their ground until they have seen the ball being released from the bowler's hand," the MCC said in a statement.

"Part of the discussion in Dubai touched on the growing narrative for the bowler to be vilified for this type of dismissal. The committee members were unanimous in their view that the batter stealing ground is the one breaking the laws of the game and therefore deserving of recrimination.

"They were also in agreement that there is no precedent to require a bowler to give a warning to a batter, confirming they are completely within their right to dismiss the batter on the first occasion they break the law," it added.