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Every time a batsman nicks one to the wicketkeeper and isn’t given out, talk goes back to that age-old issue of walking. Or not.
Personally, I was always a non-walker as a batsman, so if a batsman doesn’t walk, I don’t complain.
The umpire’s there to do a job and he’s messed up. Not the batsman’s lookout.
As for the other side of the argument – not walking amounts to cheating – I take it on board, and don’t have much against it either. Unfortunately, the issue arises when there’s a team of walkers and a team which doesn’t have them – wouldn’t make for a fair result.
I bring this up as it has a relationship with the issue of Mankading.
The Under-19 World Cup, currently on in Bangladesh, saw the latest case of Mankading in ‘international’ cricket, but what made it trend on Twitter in some parts of the world was the situation in which it came up.
Zimbabwe were three runs away from sending the West Indies on their way home, but had six balls and, more vitally, just a wicket standing.
But it was West Indian speedster Keemo Paul who sent his side into the knock-out stage, by running Richard Ngarava out at the non-striker’s end before he had sent down the delivery.
Out, Mankaded.
A very upset Zimbabwean captain, Brandon Mavuta, refused to add fuel to the fire, saying, “We got so close, no comment about it. I don’t have anything to say right now. No comment.”
The West Indian captain Shimron Hetmyer said he had no problem with the incident, which was within the rules of play. When asked if it was within the spirit of the game, Hetmyer conceded that might not be the case.
Why isn’t it within the spirit of the game if it’s within the rules of the game?
Unlike the Bodyline or other such intimidatory tactics, it’s not causing any physical harm. And unlike that infamous underarm delivery, it’s not even like the ICC has moved to ban Mankading.
Quite the opposite in fact.
In 2011, the ICC decided to make Mankading easier for the bowlers by allowing them to remove the bails even after they got into their delivery stride, a huge change from the previous rule that had seen the apex cricketing board ban the law for a few years.
This change to reintroduce Mankading was a deliberate one. The ICC didn’t want the non-striker to gain an unfair advantage, and decided to bring back the old law.
Since then, there have been instances of bowlers running the non-strikers out, or at least attempting to do so, and each time it has led to furore.
In a tri-series match in Australia, India’s off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne a warning before running him out at the non-striker’s end. The umpires, despite knowing the change in the rules, asked the then-Indian captain Virender Sehwag if they wanted the appeal to stand, and Sehwag opted to withdraw it.
Interestingly, Thirimanne continued to take a start before the bowler’s delivery stride in that game even after that incident, and got away clean.
More recently, Sri Lankan bowler Sachithra Senanayake Mankaded Englishman Jos Buttler. The appeal stood, a disgruntled Buttler was sent back to the pavillion, and English captain Alastair Cook accused his counterpart Angelo Mathews of crossing the line.
Seriously, crossing the line for affecting a run-out well within the rules of the game? Not just in the rules of the game, but introduced specifically in the rules as recently as in 2011 to stave off unethical starts at the non-striker’s end?
Wasn’t Buttler crossing the line – both a literal and figurative one – by gaining an unfair advantage in taking a start?
If nicking and standing at the wicket, waiting for the umpire’s decision, borders on cheating, then taking a start at the non-striker’s end and creating a hue and cry over being Mankaded is cheating and hypocrisy rolled into one.
What’s cringeworthy is that the fielding team is made to look like they have committed a crime for following the letter of the law; why should they be questioned over it? Why is getting stumped or caught or lbw or run-out ethical, but getting Mankaded is not?
In short, it’s either legal or illegal. If Mankading is allowed as a part of the law, the fielding team are within their rights to affect the run-out, without even warning the non-striker.
And if it’s not, the ICC should scrap it.
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