Mankad: Fair game or poor form?

Mankad

  • Within the spirit - with a warning

    Votes: 73 51.8%
  • Within the spirit - without a warning

    Votes: 52 36.9%
  • Not in the spirit in any case

    Votes: 16 11.3%

  • Total voters
    141
Feb 9, 2009
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An article in one of the newspapers was talking about pointless rules in sport, and one of the rules brought up was the mankad in cricket.

Personally i have no problem with a player being run out by the bowler without a warning, and it is as much in the spirit of the game as backing up to far to try and steal a run (particularly if its when the ball goes through to the keeper off a fast bowler). I don't see why the runner should be protected and allowed to shorten the run, particularly when the bowler suffers a penalty when only an inch over the crease. And in any case if a bowler is able to see that you're out of your crease while running in, stop their run-up and turn around to run you out then you were probably quite a long way out to begin with. In baseball stealing a base is a legitimate tactic but it comes with the risk of being run out, and it makes perfect sense. The 'spectacle' of seeing players at the end of an innings running byes to the keeper is in my mind a blight on the game and the bowler should be able to have a counter to it with the mankad.

Opinions?

(i should mention that as far as i can remember the article didn't actually say WHY they think its a pointless rule)
 

The Passenger

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Mar 25, 2003
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yep, whilst there is nothing in the rules about giving a warning i think it's general considered a good thing to give the guy a warning.

if you've given the guy a warning then he is fair game. why should the fielding team continue to allow the non striker an advantage when running between wickets?
 
Nov 12, 2002
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Poor form, unless the player has been warned and he continues to do so excessively.

Not poor form. At all. Spirit of the game? A load of complete garbage and has always been so.

You want to align yourself to the "spirit of the game"? Read the fecking rulebook. It says quite clearly not to leave your crease, and that the bowler can run you out if you do. I learned this at about age 6, I don't know what's so difficult to grasp.

I'd run every batsmen out every single time without warning. Quite happily.
 
Poor form, unless the player has been warned and he continues to do so excessively.

This.
During my cricketing days I can only recall this happening once. Non-striker kept leaving his crease and we warned him once.
Safe to say that he didn't do it again.
 

The Passenger

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have been playing in probably half a dozen games where a mankad warning came into play - including once where i warned the guy myself.

in one of those we actually did run the guy out. we had warned him twice IIRC. a bit of a stink was kicked up and eventually our captain relinquished and recalled the batsmen. he didn't try it again but didn't last much longer. maybe 10 extra runs. can't really remember. long time ago. he was pretty gimpy which i'm sure no doubt played a role in the captains diplomacy. had he looked like ricky ponting at the crease he might not have been so generous.
 

getthefooty

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Apr 30, 2008
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You have to be pretty stupid as a batsman to be mankaded these days considering the bowler can only do it if he hasn't entered his delivery stride. Personally I'd definitely give a warning before doing it but I think the non-striker has too much leniency when it comes to backing up (can almost be halfway down the bloody pitch before the batsman has played sometimes) so I have no objections to someone going out this way.
 
May 8, 2007
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vic
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Put me in the camp who never understood why there needs to be a warning. If you are out of your crease, you are a chance to be run out. How hard is it to stay in your crease until the bowler releases the ball? Too hard? Well, tough.

Next thing people will be saying bowlers aren't allowed to bowl an outswinger without warning the batsman first............................
 

evdo1706

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Aug 1, 2009
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Put me in the camp who never understood why there needs to be a warning. If you are out of your crease, you are a chance to be run out. How hard is it to stay in your crease until the bowler releases the ball? Too hard? Well, tough.

Next thing people will be saying bowlers aren't allowed to bowl an outswinger without warning the batsman first............................

That is what separates cricket from all other sports. The uniqueness of cricket should be kept up.
 
Nov 12, 2002
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Put me in the camp who never understood why there needs to be a warning. If you are out of your crease, you are a chance to be run out. How hard is it to stay in your crease until the bowler releases the ball? Too hard? Well, tough.

Next thing people will be saying bowlers aren't allowed to bowl an outswinger without warning the batsman first............................

Exactly. Some things about cricket are just astounding. It's in the rules, when will people understand this? If you don't like the rule, take it out of the game altogether, but just as bowlers aren't allowed to gain an unfair advantage, neither should the batsmen.

Fail to understand how 6-year-olds can grasp this immediately and perfectly, but adults still can't fathom it.
 
Sep 21, 2002
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It's a run out plain and simple. Stay behind the line until he bowls the ball it's not hard

Agreed. I was watching a match last weekend and could not believe the number of times I saw batsmen at the non-strikers end:
1. Hold the bat in the wrong hand
2. Not watch the ball leave the bowler's hand
3. Just wander out of his ground before the bowler lets go of the ball

Slightly un-related, I am also amazed to see batsmen turning blind when running between the wickets.

For mine, the "Mankad" style run out is within the rules. I'm opposed to bowers running in pretending to bowl, and then whipping the bails off, but if the bowler is in his delivery stride and sees the batsman leave his ground, that's cheating and should be run out. A batsman should know how to back up properly, it's part of the game.

To me, warning a batsmen in a Mankad situation is the same as telling the batsman, "Next time I knock your middle stump back, you're out".
 

getthefooty

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 30, 2008
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For mine, the "Mankad" style run out is within the rules. I'm opposed to bowers running in pretending to bowl, and then whipping the bails off, but if the bowler is in his delivery stride and sees the batsman leave his ground, that's cheating and should be run out.

Wrong. The bowler cannot be in his delivery stride and then run the batsman out. It is perfectly acceptable for the batsman to start backing up when the bowler enters his delivery stride and before he releases the ball.
 
It was actually completely banned in my association up until this year, I heard of more than 5 happening in various grades before christmas.

One actually stopped a game for about 15 minutes while the umpires consulted the rulebook
 

Modbury_Hawk_12

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Feb 16, 2014
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Put me in the camp who never understood why there needs to be a warning. If you are out of your crease, you are a chance to be run out. How hard is it to stay in your crease until the bowler releases the ball? Too hard? Well, tough.

Next thing people will be saying bowlers aren't allowed to bowl an outswinger without warning the batsman first............................
I think it's different because this is not a skill thing. A batsman may be able to pick the outs winger and have to play it well. A bowler may be able to hide it and then has to bowl it well. However, a mankad has no skill involved. On the first go it could simply be an honest mistake (I'm sure we've all backed up too far at some point) with no malice intended. If he does it after a warning he's probably trying to cheat and then I see it as fair game.
 
May 8, 2007
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vic
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I think it's different because this is not a skill thing. A batsman may be able to pick the outs winger and have to play it well. A bowler may be able to hide it and then has to bowl it well. However, a mankad has no skill involved. On the first go it could simply be an honest mistake (I'm sure we've all backed up too far at some point) with no malice intended. If he does it after a warning he's probably trying to cheat and then I see it as fair game.


The converse of that is if I play a big drive and accidentally drag my foot out of the crease, should the keeper stump me, or warn me? I wasn't trying to go out of my crease, I wasn't trying to gain an advantage - it just happened. What about the batsman run-out at the bowler's end through a deflection off the bowler - sheer fluke, the bowler wasn't trying to do it, the backer-upper wasn't trying to take a run - should that be out?

I can see your argument and I agree it's an unfortunate thing when a batsman backing up just leans out too far - but that is because we have become accustomed to batsmen 'timing' their backing-up with the bowlers delivery stride. Just wait until he's let the ball go!

It's the fun thing about sport - the rules are purely arbitrary and only meaningful in the context of the game. To argue about 'reasonableness' or 'honourable' rules doesn't really make sense if you apply normal standards to them.
 
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