Australia captain Aaron Finch says he is “not a big fan” of bowlers running out batters backing up after an apparent flashpoint between Mitchell Starc and England captain Jos Buttler in the third T20.
The dismissal, informally recognised as a ‘Mankad’ after former India all-rounder Vinoo Mankad, has been a hot-button issue again since India’s Deepti Sharma ran out England’s Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end in a women’s ODI last month.
Before the T20 series between Australia and England came to a soggy end after a rain-enforced abandonment at Canberra’s Manuka Oval, Starc seemed to warn Buttler about being out of his crease while Dawid Malan was batting at the other during the tourists’ innings.
Finch was unaware of what took place but, while he kept his counsel about whether he would give the green light for his bowlers to dismiss batters that way and felt it was fair to offer a warning, he suggested he is generally against it.
“I think if guys get a warning, then it’s fair game after that,” Finch said. “That would go for most teams, I assume, if you give a batter a warning, because you think that they’re gaining a little bit too much ground before the ball is bowled. But I’m not a big fan, personally.”
Buttler has twice been out to this mode of dismissal before, first by Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake in an ODI in 2014 and then by Ravichandran Ashwin in the Indian Premier League five years later.
While the MCC, the game’s lawmaker, has shifted the dismissal from unfair play to simply a run out in its charter, Buttler said recently he would withdraw the appeal if done by one of his bowlers.
“No one wants to see them in the game because they always create such a talking point when it should be about the battle between bat and ball,” Buttler said.
England seamer Chris Woakes backed up his skipper but felt Australia left-arm paceman Starc was well within his rights to caution Buttler.
“I personally wouldn’t run someone out (like) that but a warning – no issue with that to be honest,” he said. “Happy with giving guys warnings.”
In the first T20 at Perth on Sunday, Matthew Wade appeared to obstruct England quick Mark Wood, who was attempting to take a return catch off the Australia wicketkeeper-batter.
Wade, having top-edged on to his helmet, stuck his arm out and would likely have been given out had England appealed – although Buttler declined to do so, in part because he did not want to incur any opprobrium from the Australian public.
“We’ve only just got to Australia so I thought just carry on in the game,” he said in the aftermath.
