The International Cricket Council is the one that runs International cricket. It’s not just the cricket between the full member countries who play the five day Test matches between each other as well as the one day internationals and the T20 Internationals, but also the matches between the Associate member countries. For all these games the ICC permits the playing conditions to be decided by the participating teams. The laws of the game though are formulated by the Marylebone Cricket Club based in St John’s Wood, London. This private-members-only club makes the laws which are binding on every game of cricket. By and large the laws have been well accepted by the players and the general public and even for a newcomer to the sport it is not too difficult to follow the game and get to understand the basics. However, there is one recent change in a law which has baffled quite a few and many are wondering whether there was any need to change it at all. This law is about a new batsman taking strike even if the dismissed batsman and the non-striker had crossed each other when the catch was taken. All these years if the non-striker crosses the striker while the ball is in the air, then once the catch is completed he gets to keep the strike. If the non-striker is a quality batsman then he can help his team to score more runs especially if the remaining  batsmen are not known for their batting ability. In a tight game this can often be the difference between winning and losing.

That’s why there was so much interest to see if the batsmen had indeed crossed before the catch was taken. The slow motion TV replays to check this was always most exciting  with the batting team and their supporters hoping the batsmen had crossed while the bowling team were holding their breath to see that they hadn’t.