Official cricket lawmakers have declared the referee correct in declaring Adam Zampa’s Mankad attempt at the MCG on Tuesday night to have failed.
As the incident went viral in the cricket world, the MCC confirmed that Zampa had gone too far to run out Tom Rogers in his bowling action.
Zampa, captain of the Melbourne Stars, declared he was entitled to eject Renegade trailing Rogers, who had crept out of his crease in the final over of the batting inning.
However, the hitter said it was “a bit dark” because he tried to laugh it off after the game, but it didn’t go out because Zampa reached the point where he was “usually expected to release the ball.”
The incident came after Australia’s test captain Pat Cummins warned the players after fast bowler Mitchell Stark gave South African Teunis de Bruyne a serious warning during the Boxing Day test in Melbourne. It happened after giving the green light to bring about a runout.
In a clear statement, the MCC moved the rule regarding such conduct from the section of the game law governing “unfair play” to the provision regarding runouts.
Cricket Law Law 38.3 states:
“If a non-striker is off his ground at any time from the moment the ball is put into play until the moment the bowler would normally be expected to release the ball, the non-striker may be run out.”
The point at which the ball entered play has long been defined as “the highest point of that bowler’s action”, according to the MCC statement.
“After the bowler has reached the highest point of action, no non-striker will be allowed to run out in this manner,” the statement said.
“This is so that the bowler cannot pretend to throw the ball, lure the non-striker off the ground, perform his action, and then come all the way back to attempt a runout.
“The umpire correctly ruled the non-striker (Rogers) not out because the bowler (Zampa) did not attempt to run out before the point where he would normally be expected to release the ball.
“As with all incidents involving non-striker runouts, the MCC would like to reiterate that the best way for non-strikers to prevent runouts is to stay on the ground until they see the bowler release the ball. .”
Zampa was adamant that he was within his right to attempt a runout, but conceded that if he and the Stars appealed, they could have dropped the appeal.
As the Stars captain said, we might do it again because it’s within the rules.
“I don’t know what decisions they will make once they are sentenced,” he said.
“Even if my technique is right and[referee]Gerard[Aboud]says I’m probably out, I don’t know what decision I would make.
“I’m a very competitive guy, so when he (Rogers) used it (stealing) to his advantage, I think I saw a little bit of red.
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it if I was in that situation again.”