London: The Marylebone Cricket Club, the custodians of the Laws of Cricket announced changes to the code of Laws for 2022. Under the new code of Laws, when a batter is caught, the new batter will be on strike for the next ball, unless the dismissal happens in the last delivery of the over.
Some of the key changes are:
Law 18:Â Batters returning when Caught
First trialled by the ECB in The Hundred at the suggestion of MCC, Law 18.11 has now been changed so that, when a batter is out Caught, the new batter shall come in at the end the striker was at, i.e. to face the next ball (unless it is the end of an over).
Law 22.1: Judging a Wide
In the modern game, batters are, more than ever, moving laterally around the crease before the ball is bowled.
It was felt unfair that a delivery might be called ‘Wide’ if it passes where the batter had stood as the bowler entered his/her delivery stride. Therefore, Law 22.1 has been amended so that a Wide will apply to where the batter is standing, where the striker has stood at any point since the bowler began their run up, and which would also have passed wide of the striker in a normal batting position.
Law 41.16: running out the non-striker – has been moved from Law 41 (Unfair play) to Law 38 (Run out). The wording of the Law remains the same.
“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,” Fraser Stewart, MCC Laws Manager, said.
“It is important that we announce these changes now as part of the Club’s global commitment to the game, giving officials from all over the world the chance to learn under the new Code ahead of the Laws coming into force in October.”
The updated code of Laws will be effective from October 1.
