New rules from MCC

[Sachinism]

Bad light Umpires will now be the sole arbiters of whether play should continue in poor light. The batting side will no longer have any say in the decision, which was often made for tactical reasons. The toss At least one umpire will also now be required to attend the toss and the winning captain must notify his counterpart of his decision to bat or field immediately. Previously, captains could wait until ten minutes before the start of the game, but in some cases this was being exploited to the losing side’s disadvantage - and therefore contravened the Spirit of Cricket. Increased fairness Other Law changes aimed at achieving more fairness between the teams include: * giving batsmen who damage the pitch just one warning before penalty runs are issued, rather than two * preventing bowlers from delivering the ball with their front foot having crossed an imaginary line between the middle stumps (e.g. declaring they were bowling over the wicket but releasing the ball as if they were bowling round the wicket) * and forbidding bowlers bowling the ball into the ground to a team mate, which damages the ball and may waste time. Practice beyond the boundaries Fielders will no longer be able to practice with a twelfth man or coach outside the boundary during a game, as this affords them an opportunity to prepare that is not granted to the batsmen in the middle. Fielding athleticism Twenty20 cricket has contributed to increasingly athletic fielding standards, and MCC strives to ensure the Laws deal with the challenges posed by the modern game. Now, a fielder’s first contact with the ball must be within the boundary or, if his is airborne, when his last contact with the ground was within the field of play. He may subsequently step outside the rope, but a four or six will be scored if he makes further contact with the ball whilst grounded outside the boundary. Rare dismissals The two final Law changes deal with very rare forms of dismissal. Law 28.1 has been amended so, if a batsman’s bat breaks in the act of playing a shot and the broken part of the bat hits the stumps, he will now be out. A new sub-section has been added to Law 29.1 to protect a batsman who is well in his ground - for example a sprinting batsman who has run past his stumps - but whose feet and bat happen to be in the air as the bails are removed. He will now be deemed to be in.

[CSK Fan]

Some more rules in the pipeline from MCC to make cricket interesting The castrol lubricant 3 mandatory drop catches This rule is to allow teams like Pakistan and India to have a more even contest with good fielding sides like Australia and South Africa. There would be one mandatory drop catch in the first powerplay and then the fielding side can chose the next block of ten over within which to drop 2 further catches. If no droppable opportunity arises within that period, it will be carried forward to the next block MCC sees a lot of strategy changes coming into cricket as a result of the above policy. Eg, teams clamouring to take the catch-drop block when someone like Jadeja is at the crease and someone like Afridi trying to play the ball along the ground to avoid giving any dropping oppurtunities to the opponents. A bowler like Gul will not bowl on the stumps as he wants to induce a catch! The dabur chwanprash 'run your partner out' period This requires a lot of strategy. Face it, funny run outs are one of the most entertaining part of some, otherwise boring, matches. In order to esnure this entertainment, MCC plans to introduce this new rule. The fielding team will select a block on overs in which one of the batsmen have to get the other run out. The team not being able to do so would be heavily penalised. Imagine when both the partners try to fake calls and run for the same end! Imagine the dressing room atmosphere afterwards! In order to ensure fair play, sacrificing ones wicket in favour of a more senior/settled batsmen will not be allowed and the third umpire will be the ultimate judge of this The GKB Opticals 'spot the fixing' Bonus runs will be provided to teams which are successfully able to identify 3 deliberate attemps of fixing by the opposing teams. Each team will have 3 calls. Was that drop chance clumsiness or fixing? Remember, a wrong call will result in losing runs for the team and a public apology! The Bajaj fan 'wild swing' period In this period of five overs, top runs will be given to batsmen who are able to swing blindly at the ball without connecting and without losing their wickets. You have to avoid being bowled, caught behind and still miss the maximum number of balls. Swinging at the ball is mandatory, you are not allowed to just leave the ball The Sabering 'best wicket/century celebration' A neutral panel of judges will decide which batsman/bowler had the best celebration in the game. The more flamboyant aeroplane celebration or the humble sajda, which will impress the umpires more?

[nospam]

Video Explaing the laws - MCC zIoSCGpvBto