MCC Gives Stern Message to Non-Strikers After Deepti Sharma’s Mankad, Advices Batters to Remain in Their Ground

New Delhi:  Despite it being Jhulan Goswami’s farewell game at the Lord’s on Saturday, it was the Deepti Sharma Mankad act that hogged unnecessary limelight. Deepti Mankaded English batter Charlotte Dean to seal the whitewash for India. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won the match by 16 runs and in the process completed the historic whitewash. But it was the Deepti moment that created a controversy. MCC, the law-maker of cricket have made it clear that non-strikers shouldn’t cross the line until the ball is released from the hand of the bowler.

This what the MCC had to say in an official statement-

”This change will formally come into effect from 1 October 2022. This was done to clarify this matter and to place an onus on batters to ensure that they do not leave the crease at the non-striker’s end, prior to a bowler releasing the ball.

The Law is clear, as it needs to be for all umpires to be able to easily interpret throughout all levels of the game and at all moments in the game.

Cricket is a broad church and the spirit by which it is played is no different. As custodians of the Spirit of Cricket, MCC appreciates its application is interpreted differently across the globe.

Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early.

MCC’s message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler’s hand. Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen.

Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more.”