Why That Particular Mankad Was Cheating 53


mankad

Even this picture does not give the idea of how close it was. The bat is moving forward (left to right), and you can see the stump has already moved forward a fair way. At the instant the stumps were broken, the bat was further back towards the crease. If it was out, it was by well less than a millimetre (on the line is out – you or the bat must be grounded behind).

Cricket is a game of marginal decisions. But this is different. At the moment when the bowler would normally have entered his delivery stride, the bat was still grounded well and truly within the crease. It is plain that the bowler had run up with no intention of actually bowling, but purely with the intention of completing a mankad. There was no early run by the batsman that triggered the mankad. The batsman was not attempting to steal an advantage. Had the bowler completed his delivery in the normal way, the batsman would still have had his bat grounded at the point of release.

I am not against all mankads on principle, but I do think that the accepted convention that the bowler gives a warning first if he feels the batsman is backing up too enthusiastically is a good one. Here no warning was given.

Zimbabwe needed two runs to win with six balls remaining and one wicket left. By this bit of cheating West Indies have knocked Zimbabwe out of the U-19 World Cup. I use the word cheating because I am convinced there was never any intention to bowl a legitimate delivery, while the batsman was plainly attempting to operate within both the spirit and laws of the game.


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53 thoughts on “Why That Particular Mankad Was Cheating

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  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    It’s quite possible that I would have been a world famous cricketer by now if it wasn’t for a singular event in my youth.

    Admittedly cricket was/is not the number one sport in our locality, hence a 12-year old neighbour of mine was playing for the county team at the time (1964). Anyway, Ross County cricket team was playing at home to Elgin and the entire team was bowled out for a duck. Such was the local interest in cricket that no fuss was made and nobody other than the humiliated cricketers were even aware of this sporting calamity till long afterwards. My own knowledge of the event came about when one of the comics I read as a boy featured this “World Record” held by Ross County cricket club in a one-liner at the top of the page. To this day I haven’t made my mind up whether to be proud or ashamed of this unbeatable score which will stand in the record books for ever.

    To be on the safe side, I have never risked playing cricket either before or after that event.

    Ross County Nil

  • Bob smith

    Eddie-g it wouldn’t be the first decision the third umpire has got wrong or the first time I am wrong.The technology is still not good enough but it is a lot better than we had 20 years ago. I hope the incident doesn’t cast too much of a shadow over the tournament

  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    ^^^ reading my own link, I notice that an Elgin bowler called Murray got 3 County wickets with 4 bowls.

  • fred

    “The umpires are clearly Neo-Con Zionists in the pay of the NWO and the angle of the stump is indisputable evidence of controlled demolition. The ball was obviously added on afterwards using CGI.”

    Every day is Groundhog Day on the CM blog.

  • K Crosby

    Dr William Grace (aka Habbabkuk)

    Who said I didn’t enjoy it? (Real cricket, not the short form.)

  • exexpat

    “Anon1

    Have you managed to formulate a Zionist angle on the Mankad yet?”

    Does everything have to be about you?

  • Fairtrader

    @Anon1 – one rule for the googlies and another for the jooglies, just like in Palestine ! There you have it.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    One of my fondest memories of Cricket was our last summer at school. I was 15 years old, had already batted (probably out for a duck), and a few of our class were just sat round in a circle. It was a very hot day, and the prettiest blonde girl was wearing some very loose shorts. I’m sure she didn’t realise they were gaping wide open. We did, but were much too polite, and no one wanted to bat (an eyelid). Fortunately our shorts were very loose too and white.

    Tony

  • nevermind, Lord Feldmannn? RESIGN!

    Norwich lost 3-0 against Tottenham, the ref was bought or blind, but hey, we don’t regulate refs….

    Good to see you found the keyboard, now, what is cricket? a form or rounders?

  • giyane

    Obviously rear view mirrors on the visor are needed to add to bollock protection and shin pads.

    What do the corporate sponsors think of all this?

  • LordSnooty

    What are ye doing, commenting on a Sassenach game?. Who d’ye think ye are, Mike Denness?

  • DerekM

    i dont think anybody was at fault,it was just one of those things,if anything the young batsman will have learned a valuable lesson and that is dont leave your crease,anybody who has played cricket at some point will probably have had their partner hit a straight drive right towards their stumps ,if you are already running down the track and suddenly have to turn to try and get back in only to find your stumps broken by your partners drive it doesnt half make you feel stupid its worse than getting a duck.

    The bowler used some quick thinking noticed the batsman leave his crease and whipped the bails off ,perfectly okay and not cheating ,if a batsman wishes to risk his wicket by doing this thats his choice,if he gets caught doing it then tough,thats cricket for you.

    And dont give me the bs its against the spirit of the game that is an excuse used by the losers.

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