A batsman's world
The Mankading incident in the Under-19 World Cup and the controversy over the incorrect no-ball call in Wellington have only served to show that batsmen are cricket's privileged class, says Greg Baum
ESPNcricinfo staff
16-Feb-2016
The Mankading incident in the recent Under-19 World Cup and the erroneous no-ball call that gave Adam Voges a reprieve in Wellington only highlight, according to Greg Baum, how heavily the odds in modern cricket are stacked in favour of the batsmen. In his column for the Sydney Morning Herald, Baum writes that in the first incident, the "principle was deemed unfair" to the batsman, while in the second it was the solution of rescinding an incorrect no-ball call. He further states arguments in favour of changing protocol to allow a third umpire to cancel incorrect no-ball calls.
All that is needed is a change of protocol and perspective. The protocol simply is to allow the third umpire to cancel no-ball calls if they plainly are wrong. The perspective is the way a batsman looks at a no-ball call. Instead of seeing it as a free hit, which he rarely has time or mind to take anyway, he ought to see it as guarantee against dismissal if it is right, and a run to his side. That would be justice enough. If it is wrong, the bowler deserves his justice, up to and including a wicket if he takes one.
The Mankad case, seen through the bowler's prism, also looks different. He is expected to tolerate a batsman creeping many centimetres out of his crease, potentially making part of a run before the ball even is delivered, restricting himself lamely to a warning in the first instance. Yet if the bowler was to stray even a millimetre over the popping crease in his delivery stride, he would be penalised immediately, without warning. He might even be penalised in retrospect.
The difference, it is pleaded, is that the bowler gives up merely one run, the Mankaded batsman loses his wicket. But for all anyone knows in the instant the no-ball is called, the bowler might be costing himself a wicket. It happens often enough. In Wellington, it happened even to a bowler who had not no-balled..