The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in a latest significant development has amended series of laws which will see tethered bails as the game of cricket in the recent past had witnessed some freak injuries to wicketkeepers due to flying bails.
The custodians of the law have pressed for the tethered bails in a bid to protect wicket-keeper.
One of the versions has been designed by Gus Kennedy from England, who was Oxford and Cambridge wicket-keeper. The bails are lightweight which is further attached with a piece of cotton and drilled in both off and leg stumps and could travel three inches when the stumps are shattered.
The amendment is further followed by umpires, who have been given a right to eject players, who will show dissent on the field. The law will come into the effect from October 1.
“Law 8.4 has been changed, to help prevent injuries, to allow specially designed mechanisms which tether the bails to the stumps, thereby restricting the distance that they can fly off the stumps but without limiting their ability to be dislodged,” the MCC said in its statement.
The decision came to change the Law 8.3 as the MCC was approached by UK-based Company and South Africa respectively, who have given detailed designs for tethering the bails.
“If it prevents someone losing their eyesight, it’s got to be worth considering,” MCC’s Laws Manager Fraser Stewart was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Further, the MCC statement further explained that fresh ‘Players conduct’ rule will be monitored by on-field umpires like as much as before. However, the opposition could be awarded five runs as a penalty after any player will be found guilty of misbehaving during the fielding or batting.
The level one would receive the warning before the player would repeat the offence. The series of offences would see a player being removed from rest of the match.
It has also been cleared in the statement that match could be awarded to the opposition if one skipper refuses to accept the misbehaviour from team’s player.
“Devices aimed at protecting player safety by limiting the distance that a bail can travel off the stumps will be allowed, subject to the approval of the Governing Body for the match and the ground authority,” Law 8.3.4 reads.
Moreover, given to the conditions, if both skippers would reject the offence by their players the match will be declared abandoned.
The MCC governing body has also reduced the possible dismissals to nine from 10 as the mode of ‘obstructing the field’ dismissal has been merged with ‘handled the ball’.
“The message to the non-striker is very clear – if you do not want to risk being run out, stay within your ground until the bowler has released the ball,” the statement added.
In 2012, during a tour match in England South African Mark Boucher was hit in his left eye by flying bail which eventually put an end to his career even after long eye surgery.
The incident took place when the Proteas were playing against Somerset at Taunton when Imran Tahir’s googly hit the stumps to dismiss Gemaal Hussain.
On the other side, MCC has given a green signal to bat size restrictions which further include a substitute for a wicket-keeper.