Days after warning Jos Buttler of 'Mankading', Mitchell Starc proposes radical solution to the controversial run-out

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc came up with a unique suggestion to end the controversies surrounding the run-out of non-strikers at the bowling end whenever they leave the crease early.

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Starc created headlines by warning England skipper Jos Buttler for backing up too far in a T20 game in Canberra. Stump mic caught Starc as saying, “I’m not Deepti, but I won’t do it. That doesn’t mean you can leave early.” In response, Buttler said, “I don’t think I did.”

Starc asked The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. “Why not make it black and white and remove it from the realm of interpretation?” There is no room for error when the batter exits the crease before the front foot touches the ground.

“And in T20 cricket where runs are so handy at the back end and games can be decided by one, two, three runs all the time, if all of a sudden you get docked 20 runs because a batter’s leaving early, you’re going to stop doing it, aren’t you?

“It’s harder to do down the levels of cricket, but particularly in international cricket, there are always going to be cameras square-on for the front foot and for the run-outs. So, why not? And if it either makes the batters think about it – or stops it occurring – isn’t that a good thing?”

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According to Starc, umpires who decide the penalty for the batting side will prevent bowlers from really considering such dismissals.
“Then there’s no stigma,” Starc said. “It’s taken away from the decision to have to run someone out or think about it. If it’s blatant, it is a different story, but I feel like that is at least completely black-and-white.”