Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Laws sub-committee suggested several changes for the 2022 Code, which were subsequently approved at the Club's Main Committee meeting last week. Whilst the amendments are being announced now, they will not come into force until October. However, in the intervening time, the relevant materials will be updated by MCC to assist with the umpire and official training on a global basis. The changes are intended to shape the game of cricket as it should be played.
Fraser Stewart, MCC Laws Manager, said: "Since the publication of the 2017 Code of the Laws of Cricket, the game has changed in numerous ways. The 2nd edition of that Code, published in 2019, was mostly clarification and minor amendments, but the 2022 Code makes some rather bigger changes, from the way we talk about cricket to the way it's played."
There are several notable changes, as below:
Laws 27.4 and 28.6 - Unfair movement by the fielding side
Until now, any member of the fielding side who moved unfairly, was punished only with a 'Dead ball' - potentially cancelling a perfectly good shot by the batter. Given the action is both unfair and deliberate, it will now see the batting side awarded 5 Penalty runs.
Law 38.3 - moving the running out of the non-striker
Law 41.16 - running out the non-striker - has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Runout). The wording of the Law remains the same.
Law 41.3 - No saliva
When cricket resumed following the onset of Covid-19, playing conditions were written in most forms of the game stating that applying saliva to the ball was no longer permitted. MCC's research found that this had little or no impact on the amount of swing the bowlers were getting. Players were using sweat to polish
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