Rajasthan Royals all-rounder James Neesham isn’t impressed by one change in rule by the Marylebone Cricket Club, which now the IPL has also adopted.
Earlier in the month, the MCC had made a significant modification in one of the rules of the game: now the new incoming batter will be on strike irrespective of whether the batters have crossed or not at the point of a catch being taken, with the only exception being it the last ball of the over.
While the rule will be applicable in international cricket from October later this year, the IPL has decided to enforce it straightaway for the upcoming IPL 2022 season, starting March 26.
This change in the law was first implemented during the inaugural season of ‘The Hundred’ last year on a trial basis. The idea behind this rule is to give bowlers a little bit of an advantage, bowling to a new batsman, especially in the limited-overs format.
As per the existing rule, the new batter would be on the non-striking end if the batters have crossed before the catch was taken by the fielder. Now, with the new rule, a bowler will be bowling to a new batter at the crease.
However, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, known for his witty tweets and a regular user of the microblogging site, doesn’t agree with this change. He raised the question as to what was wrong with the previous rule, and pointed out that the previous rule awarded the batsman for being aware in the game.
“I don’t really understand the point of this. Has this rule ever been a problem? Also rewards batsmen who don’t stay aware of the match situation. Don’t like it,” wrote Neesham on Twitter.
I don’t really understand the point of this. Has this rule ever been a problem? Also rewards batsmen who don’t stay aware of the match situation.
Don’t like it. https://t.co/6yPsHjFNSk
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) March 16, 2022
James Neesham, who was with Mumbai Indians last year, was bought by Rajasthan Royals at the mega-auction for his base price of 1.5 crore.
In the updated code further, the MCC reframed the law for running out non-strikers while backing up. Known as Mankading, the MCC has moved it from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out), in a further attempt to remove some of the taints around such dismissals.
“The bowler is always painted as the villain but it is a legitimate way to dismiss someone and it is the non-striker who is stealing the ground,” Fraser Stewart, MCC Laws Manager, told the Times. “It is legitimate, it is a run-out and therefore it should live in the run-out section of the laws.”
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