Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has announced the new code of Laws for 2022 on Wednesday. Marylebone Cricket Club Laws sub-committee had a meeting last week where they approved several changes for the 2022 code of law.

Earlier, the 2017 laws of cricket played a very significant role in shaping cricket and the 2022 rules are also expected to emulate the same. The new code of laws will come into force from October 1.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Announced New Code Of Laws Including Replacement Players, Dead Ball, Saliva Ban, Wide Ball, Run Out, Mankading Rules

Some of the changes include: Replacement Players (Law 1), Batters returning when Caught (Law 18), Dead ball (Law 20.4.2.12), Bowler throwing towards striker’s end before delivery(Law 21.4), Judging a Wide(Law 22.1), strikers’ right to play the ball (Law 25.8), unfair movement by the fielding side (Laws 27.4 and 28.6), moving the running out of the non-striker (Law 38.3), and no saliva (Law 41.3), a law which bans the use of saliva on the ball.

Running out the non-striker has been moved from Law 41 (unfair play) to Law 38 (run out). The Marylebone Cricket Club’s new code of laws has moved the running out the non-striker (Mankad) from Law 41 – Unfair Play to Law 38 – Run-out.

Ravichandran Ashwin made headlines in IPL 2019 when he ‘Mankaded’ by running Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler out at the non-striker’s end after the Rajasthan Royals batsman was found outside his crease even before then Kings XI Punjab’s off-spinner delivered the ball. Jos Buttler was also out similarly against Sri Lanka in 2014 when Sachithra Senanayake did the same.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler, who clashed over a “Mankad” dismissal in 2019, however, ended up together in the same team at Rajasthan Royals after the IPL 2022 mega auction

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Bans Use Of Saliva

Marylebone Cricket Club has introduced a new clause – Law 1.3 which is regarding the replacement players. The replacements are now be treated as if they were the player they replaced on the field. They will receive the sanctions or dismissals that the player has done in that match.

Marylebone Cricket Club made a massive change to another law as according to Law 18.11, when a batter gets caught, the player who comes to bat will start at the striker’s end (unless it is the end of an over). Earlier, if the batters crossed before the catch was taken then the new player would go to the non-strikers’ end but the law has changed to reward the bowler for taking the wicket. It was first trialled in The Hundred tournament.

The new law will allow the umpire to call it a dead ball when either side is disadvantaged by a person, animal or other objects within the field of play. If a bowler throws the ball in an attempt to run out the striker before entering their delivery stride, it will now be the Dead ball. This is an extremely rare scenario, which has until now been called as a No ball.

The new law by Marylebone Cricket Club suggests that a ‘Wide’ will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run-up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position.

The new Law 25.8 will allow the batter to hit the ball if it lands away from the pitch. The batter has to keep in mind that some part of their bat remains within the pitch. Should they venture beyond that, the umpire will call and signal Dead ball. As a reward to the batter, any ball which would force them to leave the pitch will also be called No ball.

If there is any unfair movement by the fielding side while the ball is bowled, the batting side will be awarded the 5 penalty runs. Earlier, it was referred to as the dead-ball and which turned into a disadvantageous for the batting side as the good shot or boundary got cancelled with that dead ball.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the MCC to ban saliva on the ball which help the bowlers to get a swing, especially with the red ball. The new Laws will not permit the use of saliva on the ball, which also removes any grey areas of fielders eating sugary sweets to alter their saliva to apply to the ball.