Sports Desk: The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has reframed the ‘mankading’ law. Until now, ‘Mankading’ was treated as an unfair mode of dismissal but it has now been moved to Law 38, which concerns run-outs.
“Law 41.16 – running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out). The wording of the Law remains the same,” the MCC said in a media statement late on Tuesday.
Mankading is related to run-outs at the non-striker’s end. It had been labelled as “unfair play” but it will no longer remain the same as it will be considered as a legal run-out.
The MCC has made a few other changes to the laws of the game that also includes a permanent ban on the use of saliva to shine the ball.
The MCC forbid the use of saliva to shine the ball. It would be treated as an unfair practice.
“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,” the statement from MCC read.
“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. Using saliva will be treated the same way as any other unfair methods of changing the condition of the ball,” it asserted.
Normally, most suggestions made by the MCC are adopted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) without change or protest. It is now up to the ICC and national cricket associations to accept these changes.