New Changes To Laws of Cricket Explained

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), recently announced some significant changes to the Laws of Cricket.

MCC has today announced its new code of Laws for 2022, which will come into force from 1 October.

Full information on the changes ⤵️#MCCLaws

— Marylebone Cricket Club (@MCCOfficial) March 8, 2022

Here is the summary of all the changes:

1. Saliva:
   Saliva can not be used for shining the ball.
2. Run-out:
   Infamously known as “Mankading,” running out the non-striker batter has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair Play) to Law 38 (Run Out).
3. No strike change: (Law 18)
   In the event of caught dismissal, new batters will be on strike even if the batter on strike had crossed before the dismissal.
4. Striking off-pitch ball:
   Batters can hit a ball that has landed off the pitch as long as they remain partly inside the pitch area.
5. Dead ball:
   If any team has suffered disadvantages from a person or animal or objects entering the field, it will be called a dead ball by the umpire.
6. Wide ball decision: (Law 22)
   The umpire will take all the positions of a batter stood during the bowler's run-up and at release to decide the wide ball.
7. Unfair movement penalty:
   In case of unfair movement by the fielding side, they will be punished with five penalty runs instead of a dead ball.
8. Replacement players: (Law 1)
   Replacement players will inherit any sanctions or dismissals from the player they replaced.

The laws were approved by the MCC Laws sub-committee last week. These changes are effective in practice from October 1, 2022.