Mankad controversy rages over England player Katherine Brunt’s sporting act at Women’s T20 World Cup
England remain defiant that playing the ‘right’ way is what matters after neglecting a chance to ‘mankad’ a South African opponent. Vote in our poll.
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Flat wickets, shorter boundaries, bigger bats and even early fielding restrictions are all advantages in a batter’s favour in short-form cricket.
So why should they also be able to walk halfway up the wicket as the bowler is doing his or her work?
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The rule around the “mankad”, where a bowler can run out a batter at the nonstriker’s end, are too often complicated with issues like the “spirit of cricket”,
It’s a rule, an actual, black and white rule.
It’s Law 41.16 which states that: “If the nonstriker is out of his/her ground from the moment the ball comes into play to the instant when the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball, the bowler is permitted to attempt to run him/her out”.
There’s no “spirit of cricket” around other run outs or stumpings, some of which can occur when a batter slips over mid-pitch, or there’s a collision, sometimes even when the fielding side is involved.
So why here?
Backing-up at the nonstriker’s end is an essential part of all cricket, but becomes an absolute essential in limited overs cricket.
So teach it properly, learn to do it properly, and if you don’t, then suffer the consequences.
Bowlers trying to run-out creeping nonstrikers is such a rarity that on the odd occasion it does happen the world explodes.
It’s happened again after English bowler Katherine Brunt gave South African Sune Luus a warning instead of running her out in their World Cup clash at the WACA.
Moments later her South African teammate Mignon du Preez blasted a game-defining six as her team won.
Maybe it’s the potential explosion around the world, and the fear of character being tainted that stopped Brunt from taking the bails off.
Amazingly in the aftermath English captain Nat Sciver suggested it was an unspoken team rule.
“I know that none of our team would ever do that. It’s just part of the game, isn’t it?” she said.
It’s not a position that makes any sense, to not apply a rule of the game, especially with a World Cup at stake.
Buttler had been run out the same way in an international against Sri Lanka in 2014, so he really should have known better.
But amid the outcry about Ashwin’s actions being not in the “spirit of the game”, the MCC, the game’s lawmakers, reiterated why it’s an essential rule.
This is the edge case we've all been hypothetically bringing up whenever there's a Mankad debate. World Cup, qualification arguably on the line, the game essentially resting on this. #T20WorldCup https://t.co/gxvVluNR2e
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) February 23, 2020
“Without the law, nonstrikers could back up at liberty, several yards down the pitch,” an MCC statement said.
“It has never been in the laws that a warning should be given to the nonstriker.
“Nor is it against the spirit of cricket to run out a nonstriker who is seeking to gain an advantage by leaving his/her ground early.”
It’s like base stealing in baseball. Creeping runners can get caught out with a good throw from the pitched. That’s well and truly accepted, and base stealing is a well-practised skill.
Like exposing a batter who has a weakness against short balls, or against spin, expose the batter who won’t stay in his or her crease.
It’s not something that presents itself all that often, so take the wicket, if you really actually do want to win.