The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has announced its new code of laws, to be effective from October 1. One of the key changes has been a complete ban on applying saliva to the ball irrespective of the Covid situation. The MCC, the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, also accepted Mankading (or Browned, as Sunil Gavaskar calls it) as a normal mode of running out the non-striker, removing it from Law 41 (Unfair play) and clubbing it with Law 38 (Run out). 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ Mankading, fair and square In 1948, when the legendary Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad had run-out Australia’s Bill Brown at the non-striker’s end after duly warning the latter for backing up too far, he was heavily criticised and the Mankading phrase was coined. This was despite the fact that then Australia captain Don Bradman had defended Mankad, who ran Brown out for stealing a few yards. The so-called Gentleman’s game, however, has always frowned upon this mode of dismissal and as recently as in 2019, Ravichandran Ashwin found himself at the receiving end of flak, ‘for acting in contrary to the spirit of cricket’, after running Jos Buttler out that way during an Indian Premier League game between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals. The Indian off-spinner always maintained that he used no unfair means, given that the non-striker was trying to steal a few yards. Now, the MCC has vindicated Ashwin’s stand. “Law 41.16 – running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out),” it said. Simply put, that this is now just another mode of run-out, although it needs to be seen if the governing body of cricket still allows the use of the word Mankading, for it is disrespectful to a legend of the game. Why has the use of saliva been banned? The MCC statement said: “When cricket resumed following the onset of Covid-19, playing conditions were written in most forms of the game stating that applying saliva to the ball was no longer permitted. MCC’s research found that this had little or no impact on the amount of swing the bowlers were getting. Players were using sweat to polish the ball, and this was equally effective.” Why did bowlers apply saliva to the ball? Bowlers had been applying saliva since sort of time immemorial to polish the ball. Until the mid-1970s, it was to aid conventional swing. Towards the latter half of that decade, former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz discovered reverse swing that allowed seamers to move the old ball the other way. The new ball moves on either side because of the shine, based on the grip and seam position. The introduction of reverse swing saw players keeping one side of the ball shiny and the other side rough and applying saliva and/or sweat to the rough side. Gradually a lot of work has been done on this, making it fast bowlers’ go-to weapon with the old ball, especially in abrasive conditions. In case of reverse swing, instead of the ball drifting towards its rougher side, it veers towards the smooth. So it becomes important to keep one side of the ball rough and heavy, and applying saliva contributed to that. Without saliva use, does a bowler lose anything? “Absolutely nothing,” former South Africa pacer Fanie de Villiers told The Indian Express a couple years ago, after the International Cricket Council had introduced the saliva ban. Sweat can be as effective to shine the ball and also make the rough side heavier. “In sweat, you have a natural replacement,” de Villiers had said, pointing out that very few players used saliva, while a vast majority applied sweat. The MCC has said: “The new Laws will not permit the use of saliva on the ball, which also removes any grey areas of fielders eating sugary sweets to alter their saliva to apply to the ball.” So henceforth, applying saliva will be construed as an offence, an effort to change the condition of the ball. What are the other changes? Among the other changes, ‘Judging a Wide’ looks interesting. Until now, batters had the leeway to shuffle around the crease and a wide was called as per his/her position when the bowler entered his/her delivery stride. “It was felt unfair that a delivery might be called ‘Wide’ if it passes where the batter had stood as the bowler entered his/her delivery stride,” said the MCC. An amendment to Law 22.1 would see a wide is called on the basis of where the striker is standing, as the ball passes him For example, suppose a batter takes a leg stump guard and shuffles across the crease to play a wide yorker. Earlier, if he/she had stayed at the conventional ‘one leg’ until the bowler entered his/her delivery stride and then moved around, and missed the ball, it would have been called a wide. Now, the batter no longer has that leeway. While shuffling, if the batter is close enough to the ball despite missing it, the umpire won’t call it a wide. Cross-over binned This can have an effect in the death overs in limited-overs cricket and also in farming the strike, chiefly in the longer format. There will no longer be any cross over to a catch out and the new batter will take the strike unless it is the end of an over. As per the old Law, if the batters had crossed over, running between the wickets, while a catch was taken, the non-striker faced the next ball. Following the change the MCC said: “First trialled by the ECB in The Hundred at the suggestion of MCC, Law 18.11 has now been changed so that, when a batter is out Caught, the new batter shall come in at the end the striker was at, i.e. to face the next ball (unless it is the end of an over).” Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox
