As a coach or player it is imperative to keep up to date with current regulations. Being aware of The Laws of Cricket will help promote fairer play, better standards of play and may just win you a match or two!! 

The new regulations of play do bring the game up to date as it has evolved at great knots recently but it is a shame to see the change regarding fielders on the boundary having to stay in play to take catches which will see the end of those amazing catches with mid-air parries back into play to dive and complete the catch. 

Explanation of the changes in the 2010 Edition of the Laws of Cricket          www.lords.org/news
The changes to Laws 3.8 and 3.9 relate to the umpires suspending play as a result of the fitness of
the ground, weather or light. The main change is that the umpires will no longer “offer the light” to
the batting side. It was felt that, at present, the decision to stay on or come off the field was often
made on tactical grounds based on what best suits the batting side, rather than on grounds of safety
or visibility. In bad light, umpires will now only suspend play when they consider it to be
unreasonable or dangerous. Unreasonable is to be regarded as being inappropriate, rather than
conditions simply not being very good. The new Law should result in less playing time being lost.
This concept has been trialled by the ECB in county cricket with generally positive feedback.
The changes to Laws 12.4 and 12.5 involve the toss. In Law 12.4, it was felt that it would be good
practice to say that the toss should be made in the presence of one or both of the umpires. Law 3.1
already states that the umpires shall be at the ground at least 45 minutes before the scheduled start
of play. Furthermore, Laws 1.2, 3.3 and 3.4 lay down a number of points that need to be agreed
between the umpires and the captains before the toss and the Laws sub-committee thought that
having at least one umpire at the toss would help to formalise the whole process. Some people have
expressed concerns over this new Law for certain games at amateur level where there are no formal
umpires but the Laws must set out what is best practice. Laws 1.2, 3.3 and 3.4 have been in the
Code since 2000 without drawing complaints. The new 12.5 forces the captain winning the toss to
notify his decision to bat or field to the other captain straight away. The current Law states the
notification could be delayed until 10 minutes before the scheduled start of play and the Laws subcommittee
heard of examples where this Law was being exploited as a means of gamesmanship to
give the other team less time to prepare.
Law 17 concerns Practice on the field. Law 17.1 has clarified the area that can never be used for
practice as being the pitch and the two strips either side of it. Laws 17.2 and 17.3 clearly outline
when and what practice may take place on the rest of the square (17.2) and on the outfield (17.3). A
ban has been placed on fielders partaking in practice with a coach or 12th man during play. The
Club has noticed that such practice is becoming more prevalent and felt it should not be allowed.
With slow over rates becoming an increasing problem, the fact that practice should not waste any
time is reinforced more strongly than before. It is also clarified that deliberately bowling the ball
into the ground in practice will contravene Law 42.3 (The match ball – changing its condition).
A new 19.4 has been created to clarify further when the ball is beyond the boundary. In recent
years, increasingly athletic pieces of fielding on the boundary have brought this area of the Law into
the spotlight. The Laws sub-committee felt that it would be wrong to allow a fielder, seeing a ball
flying over his head and over the boundary, to retreat beyond the boundary and then to jump up and
parry the ball back towards the field of play. Consequently, Law 19.4(i) requires that the fielder’s
first contact with the ball must be when some part of his person is grounded within the boundary or,
if he is airborne, that his final contact with the ground before touching the ball was within the
boundary.
Law 24.5 (Fair delivery – the feet) has been amended in relation to the landing of the bowler’s front
foot. It became apparent that some slow bowlers were bowling with their front foot going right
across to the other side of the stumps. This meant that a bowler could, for example, say that he was
bowling over the wicket but release the ball as though bowling round the wicket. The Laws subcommittee
felt that this is not fair, particularly taking into account the positioning of the sightscreen,
and consequently altered the Law so that the bowler’s front foot must land with some part of
his foot, whether grounded or raised, between the return crease on the side on which he runs up past
the wicket and an imaginary line joining the two middle stumps.
Law 28.1 (Wicket put down) has been amended so that any part of the striker’s bat is capable of
putting the wicket down. Although it is a rare occurrence, the Club is aware of situations where the
bat has broken while hitting the ball and a part of the bat has hit the stumps, putting the wicket
down. The Laws sub-committee felt that, whilst this would be an unfortunate method of dismissal
for a batsman, a part of a bat that has broken off should be treated in the same way as a bat that has
fallen out of the batsman’s hand.
Law 29.1 (When out of his ground) has been amended so that a batsman who has been running to
make his ground will be considered to be in his ground if, having grounded some part of his foot
behind the popping crease, and still with continuing forward momentum, he loses contact with the
ground. This will particularly be useful in televised games where a player has clearly made his
ground but, at the moment that the wicket was put down, he is not in contact with the ground
because he is running and, for example, his bat has flicked up off the ground after passing through a
bowlers’ foothole. It is in the nature of running that in every stride, both feet are simultaneously not
in contact with the ground. It would therefore be unjust if a batsman were to be out in such
circumstances.
Law 42.14 (Batsman damaging the pitch) has been amended so that the batting side receives one
less warning than under the current Law. Currently, on the first offence the side is warned; on the
second offence, there is a further warning and any runs scored are disallowed; on all subsequent
offences, any runs scored are disallowed, 5 penalty runs are awarded to the fielding side and a
report is lodged with the appropriate Governing body. In the proposed new version, there is a
warning on the first offence but any repetition will see any runs scored disallowed, 5 penalty runs
awarded to the fielding side and a report being lodged with the appropriate Governing body. This is
consistent with Law 42.13 (Fielder damaging pitch), where there is only one warning before penalty
runs are issued.
Appendix D sets out definitions and explanations of words or phrases not defined in the Laws of
Cricket. As a result of the Law changes set out in this Explanatory Note, there will be
consequential additions and changes to Appendix D.
MCC Laws Department
March 2010.