Mankad moved from unfair play section to run-out category, using saliva on ball permanently banned: MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Laws sub-committee has suggested several changes for the 2022 Code, which were subsequently approved at the Club's Main Committee meeting last week.

The Marylebone Cricket Club has made a few changes to its Code of Laws that governs the international game. The new changes won’t come into force until October, 2022. In the intervening time, the relevant materials will be updated by the MCC to assist with the umpire and official training on a global basis.

Replacement Players: The MCC has introduced a new clause - Law 1.3 which is regarding the replacement players. The replacements are now be treated as if they were the players they replaced on the field. They will receive the sanctions or dismissals that the player has done in that match.

Strike rotation: The MCC made a massive change to another law as according to Law 18.11, when a batter gets caught, the player who comes to bat will start at the striker’s end (unless it is the end of an over). Earlier, if the batters crossed before the catch was taken then the new player would go to the non-strikers’ end but the law has changed to reward the bowler for taking the wicket. It was first trialled in The Hundred tournament by England and Wales Cricket Board.

Dead ball scenario: If a bowler throws the ball in an attempt to run out the striker before entering their delivery stride, it will now be the dead ball. This is an extremely rare scenario, which has until now been called as a No ball.

Judging wide: Law 22.1 has been amended to take away the unfair advantage from the batters. In modern-day cricket, the batters play a lot of innovative shots and because of that, they move around the crease before the ball is moved to create doubts in the bowler’s mind. The new law suggests that a ‘Wide’ will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position.

Permanent Saliva Ban: The new laws make permanent a ban on applying saliva to the ball due to health reasons, implemented when men's cricket resumed after a COVID-19 suspension in July 2020. The MCC said it found through research that the ban over this period had little or no impact on the amount of swing that bowlers were getting. Polishing the ball with sweat will still be permitted.

Mankading no longer unfair: The Lord's-based MCC, the sole authority on the laws of cricket since it was founded in 1787, said that the changes would be effective Oct. 1. The "Mankad" dismissal involves a bowler choosing to whip off the bails when a non-striker steps out of the crease instead of completing his delivery to the batter on strike.