The MCC’s World Cricket Committee wants to see non-strikers being run out by bowlers at normalised across levels, as well as calling for “calm” about this as well. However, recently this made headlines when Adam Zampa attempted to run out non-striker Tom Rogers in a Big Bash game in January, and the MCC issued a clarification to the wording of the law recently as well.
According to Kumar Sangakkara, who is a member of the MCC’s World Cricket Committee (WCC), the bowler is “not the villain” in this type of dismissal, and the batter is breaking the law. The clarification included changing the wording of Law 38.3 to give better clarity and dispel ”misconceptions” about it as well.
“The overriding factor is that there is a simple way that all confusion and controversy around this form of dismissal can be eradicated – by non-strikers complying with the Law and remaining within their ground until they have seen the ball being released from the bowler’s hand,” the MCC said in a statement.
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“Part of the discussion in Dubai touched on the growing narrative for the bowler to be vilified for this type of dismissal. The committee members were unanimous in their view that the batter stealing ground is the one breaking the Laws of the game and therefore deserving of recrimination. They were also in agreement that there is no precedent to require a bowler to give a warning to a batter, confirming they are completely within their right to dismiss the batter on the first occasion they break the Law,” it added.
However, the WCC comprises legends of the game, including Kumar Sangakkara, Sourav Ganguly, Justin Langer, and Alastair Cook, with Mike Gatting being the chairman.
“The bowler is not the villain here. Every batter has a choice; to stay in their ground, or risk being given out if they try to steal ground. If they choose the latter, they are the ones who are breaking the Law,” said Sri Lankan great Sangakkara.
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Gatting added: “We have seen suggestions that this method of dismissal will be attempted more and more at recreational level and there is the possibility of matches descending into chaos. Whilst attempts may increase in the short term, we would expect batters to learn their responsibilities under the Laws very quickly and drive it out of prominence.”
“Although the wording of the Law has recently been clarified, the timing of when the run out can be attempted is unchanged since 2017, so very little has actually changed. Our stance on this is simple – batters must not steal ground if they do not wish to be given out in this manner. Nor should they be expecting to be given a warning if they do. If all non-strikers only left the popping crease once the ball had been released, there would never be the need for such a dismissal again,” further added the former England batter.
