August 30, 2012 – Mankading returns to England after 40 years

The entire cricketing fraternity is divided whenever the topic of ‘Mankading’ dismissal arises on whether it is in line with the spirit of cricket or against it. The intensity of condemning this sort of dismissal goes up when it comes to cricket in England. The nation that invented the sport has been always critical of Mankading as they have received a comprehensive response against it from the public. This mode of dismissal hadn’t set its foot in the county championship for nearly four decades till one fine day in 2012.

Surrey toured Taunton to face the home team Somerset in the county fixture that started on 29th August in the County Ground. Kevin Pietersen was the ace player for Surrey and rescued his side with a brilliant 163-run knock. He scored those runs in just 168 balls with 20 fours and three maximums. Pietersen, at the score of 317, was Surrey’s last man to be dismissed. The home team walked out to bat in their first innings on the first day itself and were two down for 42 at stumps.

The second day of the game witnessed a complete washout as not even one ball of play was possible. Somerset resumed on the 3rd day with a big partnership between James Hildreth (84) and Christopher Jones (50). The pair added 135 for the 3rd wicket before Surrey’s overseas player Murali Karthik sent both the set batsmen back to the pavilion by trapping them in front of stumps in consecutive overs. Karthik had three wickets in three overs when he got Jos Buttler’s wicket in a similar fashion.

The Mankad:

Karthik’s three wickets in 14 deliveries reduced the hosts to 167/5, Peter Trego then ensured the scorecard was still ticking. Alexander Barrow, on the other hand, cleared the boundary on a Murali Karthik delivery which even the left-arm spinner appreciated. Later the Indian International decided to send Barrow packing during while in his run-up as he removed the bails at the non-striker’s end and Barrow was short of the crease.

Soon after Karthik appealed for the Mankad dismissal, the umpires were involved in a long discussion surprised by the incident. Surrey skipper Gareth Batty turned down three requests from the umpires to take back the appeal. Thus, Karthik became the first player in nearly 40 years of England’s first-class cricket to affect the ‘mankad’. The last such incident was when Rob Swetman had been mankad by Robin Jackman, also while playing for Surrey in 1972.

The game and reception:

Murali Karthik brought back the “Mankad” to England as the previous such incident was recorded in 1972, a year by which none of the 22 players featuring in the Somerset vs Surrey game were born. This very dismissal led to Karthik and Surrey being booed by the crowd. The Surrey Cricket Club and their captain later apologised to the crowd and fans for the dismissal next day.

After the controversial wicket, Trego went berserk he scored 92 off 110 balls to take Somerset’s total to 294. With a mere 26-run lead, Surrey batted for the 2nd time in the game in the last one hour on the 3rd day. The Surrey team continued to bat throughout the final day’s play as they thought there was no chance of managing a win. Arun Harinath scored an unbeaten 105 to take his team’s total to 360 in 95.4 overs before they declared. Pietersen scored 40-ball 58 while the opener Rory Burns scored 60.

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.