Australia captain Aaron Finch not a fan of ‘Mankad’ dismissals but says it is ‘fair game’ if batter is warned | Cricket News

Australia captain Aaron Finch is not a fan of ‘Mankad’ after apparent flashpoint when Mitchell Starc seemed to warn England’s Jos Buttler about being out of his crease while Dawid Malan was batting at the other during the tourists’ innings during the third T20I on Friday

Australia’s Aaron Finch is ‘not a big fan’ of bowlers running
out batters backing up

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.

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A rather awkward silence followed soon after a journalist asked eight captains a tricky question ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday

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.

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Jos Buttler believes the Mankad law has a grey area, following Charlie Dean’s controversial dismissal against India

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.

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The T20 World Cup is coming live to Sky Sports from October 16th

T20 retirement not on mind, says Finch

Australia’s captain Aaron Finch raises the trophy with his teammates after they won the Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai last year

Finch has no immediate plans to quit Twenty20 Internationals and will continue to open in the home World Cup despite his inconsistent form, the 35-year-old said.

Finch quit one-day internationals last month but will spearhead Australia’s title defence at the World Cup amid speculations of a retirement after the 20-overs showpiece.

“I haven’t thought about (retirement) in T20,” Finch, the first Australia batter to play 100 T20 Internationals, said during the pre-tournament captains’ news conference.

“To retire from one day cricket was quite nice. I think it took a little bit of weight off my shoulders.

“It was something that I’ve been toying with for a while but haven’t even had it cross my mind about the T20 format.

“It’s a format that I love playing. So I’d just like to take it game by game.”

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FLASHBACK: England win their first T20 World Cup when they beat Australia in 2010

Finch has just one fifty in his last 10 T20 Internationals and he even played at number three and four in his quest to regain the lost touch.

Cricket’s shortest format has little margin for error and an element of luck could prove crucial, said the batter.

“In terms of the overall picture, you need a bit of luck in a T20 World Cup as well – the format lends itself to one individual performance knocking teams out or changing the course of a tournament,” said Finch.

“So you have to accept that and you hope that you’re on the right side of it. I feel we’ve got enough match-winners to our side that we can put enough pressure on opposition.”