THE Deepti Sharma act at Lord’s on Saturday may have sparked off angry reactions in England but Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodians of both laws and spirit of the game, said the umpires properly officiated the ODI between England and India women’s teams.

“Whilst yesterday was indeed an unusual end to an exciting match, it was properly officiated and should not be considered as anything more,” the MCC, which owns the Lord’s ground, told through a statement.

Current and former England players fiercely contested the spirit of Deepti’s decision to run out Charlotte Dean for backing up too much during her delivery stride, which handed India a thrilling 16-run win and 3-0 sweep of the ODI series.

“Mankad is in the rules, but I hope it’s not a go-to tactic. You surely don’t train all your lives to win a game using that tactic. And I know batters should train to stay behind the line but it stinks seeing a game won like that. Yesterday was a bloody good game too (sic),” Michael Vaughan said about the dismissal that the ICC has categorised as run out. Other English cricketers and pundits like Nasser Hussain, Sam Billings, Stuart Broad and James Anderson were equally critical of the dismissal.

The MCC, however, reminded the batters of their duties. “MCC’s message to non-strikers continues to be to remain in their ground until they have seen the ball leave the bowler’s hand. Then dismissals, such as the one seen yesterday, cannot happen.” The MCC message, the spokesman also acknowledged, is that the debate is two-fold and not only about the bowler’s act.

“Cricket is a broad church and the spirit by which it is played is no different. As custodians of the Spirit of Cricket, MCC appreciates its application is interpreted differently across the globe. Respectful debate is healthy and should continue, as where one person sees the bowler as breaching the Spirit in such examples, another will point at the non-striker gaining an unfair advantage by leaving their ground early.”

The spokesman further said, “MCC this year announced amendments to the Laws of Cricket to move being run out at the non-striker’s end, from Law 41 Unfair Play, to Law 38 Run Out. This change will formally come into effect from 1 October 2022.

This was done to clarify this matter and to place an onus on batters to ensure that they do not leave the crease at the non-striker’s end, prior to a bowler releasing the ball. The Law is clear, as it needs to be for all umpires to be able to easily interpret throughout all levels of the game and at all moments in the game.”

After the dismissal, the Dean was seen in tears as the last wicket pair had added 35 runs and had taken England’s total from 118 from nine to 153 before the batter was run out. England were chasing 170.

India’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur defended her bowler in the post-match interview. “It was part of the game, I don’t think we have done anything new. It is an ICC rule and you always take those chances. I feel it shows your awareness. You are aware of what the batters are doing. I will back my player because she has not done anything that is not part of the rule. At the end of the day, a win is a win and you just need to enjoy.” (Cricbuzz)