Non-strikers on notice in Mankad Laws tweak

Non-strikers beware: the controversial 'Mankad' dismissal could be about to become easier to execute with a proposed change to the Laws of cricket giving more leeway to bowlers to run out cheeky batsmen creeping out of their crease.

The Mankad is so named for India's Vinoo Mankad, the first bowler to hold onto the ball and run out a non-striker who had backed up out of his crease. Mankad ran out Australia's Bill Brown at the SCG in December 1947 and the method of dismissal has courted controversy ever since.

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It has long been a legal dismissal in cricket's Laws but has widely been considered against the ethereal 'Spirit of Cricket', with that 1947 dismissal sparking no less controversy than February's Mankad by the West Indies team on their way to an U19 World Cup triumph.

Under the International Cricket Council's playing conditions, which govern ICC events such as the World Cup and World T20 tournaments, bowlers were given more leeway than what the Laws allow.

Now the Marylebone Cricket Club's World Cricket committee has unanimously endorsed a rewrite of the Laws to mirror the ICC's playing conditions.

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The change is technical, but important. The current version of Law 42.15 - Bowler attempting to run out non-striker before delivery - state the bowler is permitted, before entering his delivery stride, to attempt to run out the non-striker.

That will now change to the version used by the ICC that allows bowlers more leeway, and to complete the Mankad later, meaning backing-up non-strikers will need to be more vigilant for longer.

The new wording of Law 42.15 will, if endorsed by the full MCC Committee, say: The bowler is permitted, before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing, to attempt to run out the non-striker.

It means in practice bowlers will be able to plant their back foot to begin their delivery stride and enter their action and still legally complete a Mankad dismissal.

"A non-striker who is out of his crease before the point of release is either taking an advantage or is acting carelessly, and runs the risk of being legitimately run out," the World Cricket committee announced in a statement.

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The change is expected to officially come into force from 1 October 2017, when a comprehensive re-write to modernise the Laws is set to be endorsed by the MCC, the traditional guardians of the Laws of the game.

The World Cricket committee, which includes Australians Ricky Ponting and Rod Marsh among a host of other former international players, also called for the inclusion of T20 cricket at the Olympic Games from 2024.

The 2024 Games will be held in either Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Budapest or Hamburg and the committee said "cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics would be the single most effective move the ICC could make" to increase the game's global popularity.

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"With cricket included in the Olympic Games, the best players in both the men's and women's game would help to inspire and reinvigorate the sport at the grassroots level and encourage its growth in new markets. Cricket should grasp this opportunity and do all it can to help persuade the IOC of the benefits of its inclusion," a statement read.

The committee also endorsed a two-tier Test system with promotion and relegation, and a playoff between the top two ranked sides every two years.