Frown upon it if you will, but the 'Mankad' is not unsportsmanlike

The 2022 English summer of cricket concluded with a three-match ODI series between England and India’s women’s teams, of which the final match was a very sentimental one for India, due to being Jhulan Goswami’s final international appearance.

Goswami finished her career as the leading wicket-taker in women’s international cricket, and had an almost perfect fairytale finish. Taking two wickets, including the ninth, giving her the opportunity to take the final wicket and seal the series whitewash. Such was not to be, as Freya Davies blocked out the Indian veteran’s last four deliveries. Funnily enough, the first ball of the very next over was another opportunity for Goswami to seal the match, as she dropped an almost costly catch at slip.

With 52 runs needed from the last 14 overs, Charlie Dean set about making India pay for the drop, She belted the next ball down the ground for four and batted on to 46 at the end of the 43rd over, with England now needing 18 runs from seven overs. As her half-century got closer and victory for her country loomed, Dean pushed a delivery from Deepti Sharma to the leg side for a single. Davies dotted the next two deliveries, which ended up being the last two of the match.

Sharma took the final wicket by aborting the process of her next delivery and breaking the stumps at the non-striker’s end while Dean obliviously wandered down the pitch, ready to take a single.

The first reaction from the commentary was a distasteful “No!” and the crowd booed the dismissal. As Davies hugged an emotional Dean, England’s dugout displayed expressions of disgust with Sophie Ecclestone muttering presumable words of disapproval.

In the postgame debate, Lydia Greenway stated that “it doesn’t feel like the right way to win a game” and that the bowler should “make sure that Charlie Dean’s aware” of the situation. But in no way was the Indian all-rounder in the wrong.

To put it simply, Deepti Sharma saw an opportunity to seal the match and she took it. The umpires conferred and Dean was lawfully given out. Quite frankly, her actions may do a good service in removing the stigma surrounding the controversial form of dismissal.

It was a sad moment, as Dean, having batted so well to get England within reach of victory, burst into tears.

Charlie Dean of England (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Frown upon it if you will, but a bowler has every right to keep the non-striker honest about “backing up”.

No reasonable observer would go so far as to call Dean a cheat, but her intention was clearly to get a head start for a quick single, and if it wasn’t within the bowler’s right to dismiss the batter for doing so, complacency would factor in and eventually non-strikers would practically run the whole length of the pitch before the ball is even bowled.

Common sense says that a line should be drawn somewhere and, conveniently, there is already a line drawn to restrict where the ball can be delivered from.

In the words of Sir Donald Bradman: “The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out?”

Admittedly, had Sharma not aborted mid-action, Dean may well have been in her crease at the time the ball was delivered. But she still wandered out of her crease, and the ball was never delivered. Brainfades happen in sport, and Dean’s lack of awareness in the moment can fairly be classified as one. But why should she not pay for it?

With better awareness, she could have taken an extra moment to make sure that the ball had been bowled before taking an early territory gain, rather than run on assumptions. No doubt that Dean will have second thoughts about backing up next time. And who knows, maybe Sharma merely lost her rhythm and ceased her run up without the intention of breaking the stumps? At the end of the day, the scorecard reads (run out: Sharma), India won by 16 runs and took out the series 3-nil.

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Views from the captains were conflicting. Amy Jones gave her opinion that she was “not a fan” of the dismissal, while Harmanpreet Kaur insisted that they played within the rules and the dismissal was a mere reflection of Dean’s awareness. Naturally, both viewpoints correlate with how the moment affected each captain’s respective team, but the issue is still one that would divide a neutral audience.

Modern cricket is often accused of being too much of a batter’s game, so why not welcome a movement that keeps the batters honest for a change?