Aussie captain says mankad is "fair game" ahead of Black Caps clash

The Black Caps can consider themselves warned. Australian T20 cricket captain Aaron Finch says use of the mankad to dismiss an opponent is "fair game" just a week out from the teams' opening World Cup clash in Sydney.

Finch, speaking to media following the side's rained-off warm-up match against England on Friday night, said that as long as a batter is given a warning from a bowler, he thinks the controversial act is justified.

The comment was provoked by an incident during the match which saw paceman Mitchell Starc threaten to run-out Jos Buttler.

In the fifth over of England's innings, Starc warned the England captain not to leave his crease early. Pitch microphones then picked up Buttler voicing a denial of that claim even though TV footage suggested he was pushing his luck.

As pointed out by one Twitter user, after Starc's warning Buttler appeared to back-up much less keenly for the rest of the over at least.

Following the match's early ending, Finch said he backed Starc's actions.

"I think if guys get a warning, then it's fair game after that," said Finch. "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's bowled then after that [the mankad is justified] but I'm not a big fan personally."

England bowler Chris Woakes agreed that warnings were a fair part of the game, but ruled out ever using the mankad as an actual form of dismissal.

"I've got no issues with warning guys," Woakes said. "I personally wouldn't run someone out, or mankad someone if you want to call it that, but a warning – no issue with that to be honest. Happy with giving guys warnings."

Buttler himself has publicly stated in the past that his team would not employ the mankad - a dismissal named after Indian allrounder Vinoo Mankad, who famously ran out Australian Bill Brown in a Test match in 1947 as part of his bowling run-up - possibly because he himself has felt the burn of the questionable action.

Buttler has been mankaded twice during his professional career: once by Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake in a one-day international in 2014, and then by Ravichandran Ashwin during an Indian Premier League clash in 2019.

"No, I am calling the batsman back," Buttler said in September. "No one wants to see [mankads] in the game because they always create such a talking point when it should be about the battle between bat and ball and watching great games of cricket. They always seem to happen at unsavoury times."

Debate over the mankad has raged since an ODI international between England and India's women's teams was decided that way, with Charlie Dean run out backing up by Deepti Sharma at Lord's.

Black Caps captain Kane Williamson said in 2020 that using the mankad to dismiss an opponent was not a behaviour that sat comfortably within the spirit of the sport and for his team.

"No, I certainly do not encourage it. That is not something that we look to do at all as a team," Williamson told The Week.

"We have behaviours that are important to us as a group, and something like that does not fit with us, so that is my stance. However, if someone is looking to cheat, I think it would be worth having a quiet word with him and make sure the rules and spirit of the game are upheld. As ambassadors of the game, I think it is really important to stay within those lines," he added.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission