South Africa have been warned not to back up too far or risk a “Mankad” run out after Mitchell Starc was left fuming by a Proteas batsman on the final day of the Boxing Day Test.
Starc stayed true to his word of not running out a batter in his delivery stride, despite Theunis de Bruyn wandering well out of his crease, but Australia skipper Pat Cummins has given his men the green light to execute the controversial dismissal if the visitors back up too far, too early.
The “Mankad”, named after India’s Vinoo Mankad, who ran out Australia’s Bill Brown in 1947-48, was widely frowned upon but is now more widely accepted as a fair mode of dismissal, even though it is within the laws of the game.
A frustrated Starc delivered a terse warning to de Bruyn early on the fourth day.
“Just stay in your crease. It’s not that hard,” Starc was heard telling de Bruyn on the stump mic. “The line’s there for a reason mate.”
He delivered a similar message after the game.
“I had a word to him last night because he was doing it yesterday. He was halfway down Punt Road when I stopped,” Starc joked.
“Then I said it again to him. He said ‘I’m not doing it on purpose’. Gee, I’ve got to keep my foot behind the line so you can at least keep your bat behind the line. There’s no need for it. I keep saying I’m not going to take the stumps, but you can at least keep the bat behind the line.”
Asked if he would run out a non-striker if it kept happening, Starc deferred to Cummins, who gave his approval “if they keep taking the mickey” after being warned.
“That’s just absolutely taking the mickey,” Starc said. “That’s not just taking off before I’ve bowled, he’s a metre down the wicket. I gave him a couple of warnings, if he wants to keep doing it I’ll take them.”
The International Cricket Council moved the dismissal from the “Unfair Play” section of the laws to “Run Out”, removing some, but not all, of the associated stigma.
“Running out a non-striker for backing up too much will now be considered as a regular run out,” the ICC said.
