record partnership for any wicket and 14 short of the all-t

Remember that time when Kevin Pietersen danced down the pitch to Shane Warne and was stumped, and the umpire asked Ricky Ponting to withdraw the appeal? Of course you dont, because it didnt happen, and the very idea of it happening is absurd. Why, then, do umpires continue to pressure fielding captains to reconsider appeals for the so-called Mankad dismissal, the act of a bowler running out a non-striker who is backing up?How are the situations any different, really? In both cases the batsman is attempting to gain advantage, in one by reaching the pitch of the ball and negating spin, in the other by reducing the distance he must cover to complete a run. A wicketkeeper who stumps a batsman is lauded for his sharp work, yet an eagle-eyed bowler who mankads is usually condemned as unsporting.In 2011, the ICC made it easier for bowlers to effect such a dismissal. Previously the bowler had to take the bails off before entering his delivery stride. This is still the case under the MCCs Laws of Cricket, but the ICC adapted its playing conditions to allow the act before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing. It was a clear and deliberate move to keep batsmen accountable.But umpires have undermined the regulation by victimising bowlers who are only trying to stop batsmen sneaking an advantage. Consider these two recent examples.Last February in an ODI at the SCG, Lahiru Thirimanne continually left his crease far too early. R Ashwin warned Thirimanne and when the batsman kept doing it, Ashwin ran him out. Instead of raising his finger, the umpire, Paul Reiffel, consulted his square-leg colleague and asked Indias captain, Virender Sehwag, if he wanted to go through with the appeal.In doing so, Reiffel implicitly suggested Ashwins act of removing the bail was underhanded. It told the crowd India were borderline cheats, made Thirimanne think his behaviour was okay, and placed undue pressure on Sehwag, who ended up withdrawing a legitimate appeal. Thirimanne batted on, continued to back up unfairly, scored 62 and set up a Sri Lankan victory.Later in 2012, Surreys Murali Kartik mankaded Somersets Alex Barrow during a County Championship match. Like Ashwin, Kartik had warned the batsman, though he wasnt compelled to do so. Still, the umpire, Peter Hartley, wasnt happy. He asked the fielding captain, Gareth Batty, three times if he would withdraw the appeal. Rightly, Batty refused, and later Surrey were booed off the field.Reiffel and Hartley should simply have raised a finger, as they would for any other run-out, but instead they added to the ill-feeling by suggesting the bowler was in the wrong. The ICCs playing condition 42.11 explicitly states that a mankad is fair. An additional clause should be added to state that an umpire must not consult the fielding captain before making his decision, unless the conversation is instigated by the captain.Certainly a mankad is no less fair than when a strikers straight drive rockets through the bowlers hands and hits the stumps with the non-striker out of his ground. Of course, umpires rightly treat that as they do a regulation run-out. Just as they should with the mankad. Discount NCAA Jerseys . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Cheap NCAA Jerseys From China . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. http://www.cheapncaajerseys.net/ .Y. -- Injured Buffalo Sabres forward Marcus Foligno did not practice with the team Monday and head coach Ron Rolston said its unlikely hell play in Wednesdays season opener in Detroit. NCAA Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Football .com) - Richie Incognito has reportedly been admitted to a psychiatric care unit in Arizona. Surrey 212 for 4 (Roy 120, Finch 79) beat Kent 175 for 7 (Northeast 59) by 37 runsScorecardTo be at The Oval on Friday night, with a sell-out of close to 25,000 enraptured by the brilliant brutality of Jason Roy, it seemed incongruous to consider that Englands domestic T20 is a tournament deemed to be in need of a rapid overhaul.No county does T20 better than Surrey. This typically boisterous crowd took Surreys total attendance for their seven home T20s to over 140,000, and the revenue these games have raised to over ￡4 million: both figures are records. On this night the crowds only gripe was the rain at Chelmsford, which eliminated Surrey, but, as they belted out renditions of Will Griggs on Fire in between the Icelandic football clap, no one seemed remotely perturbed.Whatever the future of English domestic T20, it will be all the better if it involves plenty more innings like this from Roy. While the Rhythm of the Night blared out, Roys thunderous hitting was again the rhythm of the night at The Oval.In this mood, Roy has the swagger of a villain in a Western, brazenly bestriding his turf, ready to shoot down anyone with the effrontery to challenge him. Or so it seemed as he greeted James Tredwells offspin with a huge straight six then, as if insulted by how easy it had all been, promptly launched the bowler over wide long-on, the longest boundary.When Roy thrashed a full toss down the ground to bring up his fourth T20 century, off 51 balls, he removed his helmet, giving off the air of a gladiator appreciating the crowds acclaim.For all its destruction, this was an innings defined by far more than raw power. There was impudent improvisation too - reverse-scooping Darren Stevens over short third man for four, or waltzing across his stumps to lift the ball over the keeper. There was also ample evidence of Roys maturity as a battsman, the brain to go with his brawn.dddddddddddd He scored off all but nine of the 62 deliveries he faced, a dot-ball percentage of just 14.5%. To put that into context, 40% of deliveries in the World T20 were dots.With Roy in this mood Aaron Finch, the worlds second-ranked T20I batsman, was relegated to the status of B-list support act; on most nights the violence underpinning Finchs 79 would have been befitting something rather more. If the two did not quite break the records they threatened to - they fell five runs short of the English record partnership for any wicket and 14 short of the all-time record opening stand in T20 cricket - their 187 did break Kent.When Gareth Batty fired a delivery down the leg side after seeing Sam Billings giving him the charge, and Roy claimed Stevens, diving at full length after running in from the extra cover boundary, soon after, Surreys cruise to victory was assured.Yet it had all come too late to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. For the second consecutive season Surreys financial clout had failed to yield progress beyond the group stages.Weve put on an absolute spectacle tonight and showed what were capable of, a downcast Roy said. Thats the most disappointing thing - there were some crucial game we should have won, but we didnt show that grit and determination.At a time when the teams who take part in Englands elite T20 competition face being determined by ground size rather than on-field performance, some would see Surreys failure as a reminder of the need to keep the principle of meritocracy at the heart of the domestic English game.The debate will rumble on, long after the last remnants of spilled beer have been cleaned from The Ovals stands. ' ' '