"The Law Is Clear..." After Deepti Sharma Run-Out, MCC Clarifies Again

After Deepti Sharma's run-out of Charlie Dean to seal India's win against England in the third ODI at Lord's on Saturday sparked a heated debate over the 'spirit of cricket', the Marylebone Cricket Club -- the custodians of the laws of cricket - came out with a statement yet again clarifying their stance on the subject. The MCC had earlier this year moved the mode of dismissal from the 'unfair play' section of their laws to the 'run out' section, and the ICC is set to also adopt that change from October 1.

The MCC came out with a statement a day after the Deepti Sharma run out.

"MCC this year announced amendments to the laws of cricket to move being run out at the non-striker's end, from law 41 unfair play, to law 38 run out," the statement started.

"This was done to clarify this matter and to place an onus on batters to ensure that they do not leave the crease at the non-striker's end, prior to a bowler releasing the ball," the MCC wrote.

"The Law is clear, as it needs to be for all umpires to be able to easily interpret throughout all levels of the game and at all moments in the game," it stated.

"Cricket is a broad church and the spirit by which it is played is no different.  As custodians of the Spirit of Cricket, MCC appreciates its application is interpreted differently across the globe. Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early," the MCC wrote.

"MCC's message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler's hand.  Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen,"