New Rules to be Aware of for the new Season

Bat groundings and run outs

The Law that says a batsman won’t now be run out if, having grounded their bat behind the popping crease, he or she carries on with forward motion but the bat bounces in the air at the moment the bails are removed. In 2013, the Laws were changed to protect a batsman who might have dropped his bat, grounded his foot over the popping crease, but then, during running, had both feet in the air at the instant the wicket was put down. That Law now extends to the bouncing bat, and any other part of the body, provided the direction of movement continues forward. The same Law protects a striker diving back into their ground to avoid being stumped. All very logical and sensible. This wont affect batsman like James Spreng who fall down in the middle of the wicket.

Catches on the boundary perimeter

Acrobatic fielders like Dunfermline and Carnegies Alan Leitch or ex player Scott Gardiner are going to have to be careful on the boundary now. The Laws state that a fielder must take off from within the boundary to make first contact with the ball. They can’t come from beyond the boundary, take off from behind the rope to catch or parry the ball and land inside. It gives the fielder no help in a bish-bash-bosh T20 but it seems fair that a fielder should work within the confines of the playing area – although it would be safer to allow a fielder to come forwards towards the ball, rather than topple backwards over a boundary.

Helmets

There are a few changes to the Laws concerning helmets. A catch can now be taken if the ball first strikes a helmet worn by a fielder or wicket keeper. Helmets are an increasingly mandatory part of the game for close fielders, and are thus now seen as part of the fielder. A batsman can now also be run out or stumped if the ball ricochets directly off a protective helmet worn by a fielder or wicket keeper onto the stumps.

The Laws also allow for a catch to be claimed if it first lodges between the visor and grill of a helmet. This seems less logical, because there is no sense of the fielder having gained control of the ball themselves in order to claim the catch. A batsman could be considered extremely unlucky to be out caught in this manner. The dismissal would, however, somewhat compensate the close-range fielder for a possible headache. (Philip Daughtrey will be pleased at a new way to get a catch of his bowling)

Intentional interference towards batsmen

Any deliberate attempt to distract the striker won’t now result in a warning, but an immediate penalty of five runs to the batting side. The MCC have also clamped down on ‘mock’ fielding, where a fielder might feign picking up and throwing an imaginary ball back to the stumps to discourage the batsman from running. The MCC make it clear in their Laws’ explainer that this is classed as deception and is therefore now outlawed. (Usman Saleem’s runup is not classed as distracting the striker fortunately)

Penalties if too much time is spent off the field (Sazz Khan beware!)

Comfort breaks for bowlers might get quicker, as any player absent from the field will now have to serve penalty time equivalent to the total time they’ve been off the field, before they can resume bowling. If it happens at the end of a day in a multi-day match, the penalty carries over to the next. Previously a player could be off the field for 15 minutes before any penalties kicked in. It’s less clear how this would apply to a batsman who has had to dash to the pavilion for any reason during his innings. Meanwhile, a substitute fielder will now be permitted to keep wicket if required.

Bat size restrictions

Murray Callan will be measuring his big bats later. The Laws now state that a bat can only be up to 67mm in depth, with a maximum edge of 40mm. The ICC will be issuing umpires with bat gauges to measure a bat during a game. This has long been discussed as a way of balancing the power between bat and ball.

Limits to bowling full and dangerous deliveries

There are quite a few changes regarding Dangerous and Unfair bowling. Bowlers will get only one, final warning for bowling bouncers aimed at the body or head, or full tosses above waist height, All such deliveries will be regarded as dangerous, no matter the pace of delivery or type of bowler.

The bowling of deliberate front foot no balls is specifically addressed under this section. It will now lead to immediate suspension from bowling for the rest of the innings.

Mankadding (FAO James Honeyford & Martin Honeyford)

Something that is certainly not being stamped out is ‘Mankadding’ – the act of a bowler running out a batsman who is backing up. Mankadding has traditionally been a highly emotive issue.

However, the MCC are adamant the practise shouldn’t be frowned upon. Their Law change explainer states, “it is often the bowler who is criticised for attempting such a run out but it is the batsman who is attempting to gain an advantage. The message to the non-striker is very clear – if you do not want to risk being run out, stay within your ground until the bowler has released the ball.” It is a view I certainly subscribe to.

Double Bounce = No Ball

And finally, bad news for a lot of our bowlers – including again double bouncer specialist Scott Gardiner; it’s now illegal for a delivery to bounce more than once before it reaches the batsman.