Melbourne Stars captain and leg-spinner Adam Zampa sparked the Mankad – running the non-striker out who is backing up too far – controversy after his failed attempt to run out Tom Rogers of Melbourne Renegades on Tuesday in the BBL at the MCG.
While in his run-up to deliver the penultimate delivery of Renegades’ batting innings to striker Mackenzie Harvey, Zampa had turned his arm over before stopping and whipping the bails off with Rogers, the non-striker, out of his crease. Zampa thought he had Rogers out but the on-field umpire had seen Zampa roll his arm over, and the same was confirmed by the third umpire, which meant that the run-out was invalid.
The rule is that once the bowler’s arm has passed the point at which he is normally expected to release the ball, or the highest point in the delivery action, the non-striker can leave the crease without worrying about being run out.
“The non-striker can be run out if he/she is out of his/her ground up until the moment the bowler would normally have been expected to release the ball. That means when the arm gets to its highest point. The bowler is *not* entitled to go all the way around in the bowling action and then run the non-striker out,” the MCC said later in a tweet.
The bowler is *not* entitled to go all the way around in the bowling action and then run the non-striker out. (2/2)
You can read the Laws of Cricket in full: https://t.co/EyxKtnx0i2#MCCLaws
— Marylebone Cricket Club (@MCCOfficial) January 3, 2023
The replays confirmed that Zampa’s bowling arm had reached the highest point, and crossed it, before he stopped, turned around, and took the bails off, and hence Rogers was given not out.
This created quite a furor over social media, as all the past run-out or attempts of it at the non-striker’s end have done. The general public who accept the law – including Australia Test batter Joe Burns – sided with Zampa, while the other “spirit of cricket” section criticized the leg-spinner.
Here are the different reactions to Adam Zampa’s mankad attempt:
We will always remember where we were when Adam Zampa attempted a Mankad in the BBL derby.
— Daniel Cherny (@DanielCherny) January 3, 2023
Extremely disappointing to see @StarsBBL head coach David Hussey not publicly supporting his own captain Adam Zampa in the run out controversy. Says a lot about how the team is travelling. #BBL12
— Stephen Quartermain (@Quartermain10) January 3, 2023
I score Adam Zampa 10/10 for guts and 0/10 for execution.
— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) January 3, 2023
Adam Zampa does unthinkable. He run outs the non-striker by stopping in run up.#BBL12
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) January 3, 2023
Michael Neser: I had the most controversial Big Bash dismissal
Adam Zampa: hold my filtered coffee #BBL12
— Brett Sprigg (@BrettSprigg) January 3, 2023
Hmmmm 👀😂 https://t.co/t5wEYeGviO pic.twitter.com/aeQDJ7MENR
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) January 3, 2023
— Liam Livingstone (@liaml4893) January 3, 2023
