As thoughts turn to the new cricket season, our new bats and softs get their first showing at winter nets....who's up to speed on the changes to the Laws of Cricket since last summer?
Most of the changes have been introduced because of the changes to the types of cricket being played, Twenty20 for instance, and the increased use of TV replays for referrals and decision making. Only a couple of the revisions will affect recreational cricket in my opinion.
Anyway, hope this summary is useful. It's from the MCC website where there's also a video explaining the changes if you are interested;
http://www.lords.org/latest-news/news-archive/mcc-announce-eight-law-changes,1735,NS.htmlBad lightUmpires will no longer offer the 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 TossAt 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. Only one umpire necessary, immediate decision required and by the way, you don't have to go all the way out onto the square, anywhere on the playing side of the boundary will sufficePreviously, 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 FairnessOther 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. They were still doing this during the Ashes series and the one-day matches without being warned or penalised!Practice beyond the boundariesFielders 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 AthleticismA 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.
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. Rare DismissalsLaw 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.
A batsman being airborne whilst running through his ground has been picked up on TV referral replays. Technically not in contact with ground!Got all that.....good.....now go play cricket!
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Topic: Law Changes for the New Season (Read 4155 times)