Cricket is the only game that you can actually put on weight while playing. - Tommy Docherty

Changes to the Laws of Cricket 2011

October 2010 saw a few major revisions to the MCC Laws of Cricket, and these changes are listed below along with explanations of the most important as provided by the ECB's Association of Cricket Offials:

Law 2: Rewording and clarification of 2.3, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9;

Law 3 (Umpires): Changes to 3.8, 3.9; Rewording anf clarification of 3.6, 3.10, 3.11, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15;
(3.8, 3.9) - Umpires are no longer required to 'offer the light' to the batsmen, as this was being used in a tactical manor by some teams. Umpires (plural) are now the sole judges of the playing conditions and will suspend play when they deem conditions to be unreasonable or dangerous;

Laws 5 (The ball), 6 (The bat), 7 (The pitch), 9 (The bowling, popping and return creases) and 10 (Preparation and maintenance of the playing area): Rewording and clarification of 5, 6, 7.2, 9.3, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4;

Law 12 (Innings): Changes to 12.4, 12.5; Rewording and clarification of 12.1, 12.3;
(12.4, 12.5) - Refer to the toss. One umpire should be present at the toss (For the purposes of our cricket, where no independent umpires are used, this can be ignored), and 12.5 states that the captain winning the toss must inform his opposite number immediately of his decision - he cannot return to his team and debate the decision with his teammates;

Laws 14 (Declaration and forfeiture), 15 (Intervals), 16 (Start of play; Cessation of play): Rewording and clarification of 14.1, 14.2, 15.4, 15.5, 15.7, 15.8, 15.9, 15.10, 16.2, 16.5, 16.8, 16.9, 16.11;

Law 17 (Practice on the field): Changes to 17.1, 17.2, 17.3;
The area two pitches (20 feet) either side of the pitch in use can never be used for practice on matchdays, and certain areas of the square can only be used for specific practices. Players are no longer permitted to practice with a coach or 12th man during play. Deliberate bowling of the ball into the ground in practice now contravenes Law 42.3 (The match ball - changing its condition);

Law 18 (Scoring runs): Rewording and clarification of 18.2, 18.3, 18.4, 18.5, 18.9, 18.10, 18.11, 18.12;

Law 19 (Boundaries): Changes to Law 19.4; Rewording and clarification to 19.6, 19.7
A fielder's first contact with the ball must be with some part of his body grounded within the boundary or if airborne, his last contact with the ground before touching the ball should have been within the boundary;

Laws 20 (Lost ball), 21 (The result), 22 (The over), 23 (Dead ball): Rewording and clarification of 20.1, 20.3, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4, 21.5, 21.6, 21.7, 21.9;

Law 24 (No Ball): Changes to 24.5; Rewording of 24.2, 24.8, 24.9, 24.13, 24.14;
On landing, some part of a bowler's front foot, raised or grounded, must be on the same side of middle stump as his back foot (i.e. for a right-arm bowler bowling over the wicket, the front foot must land with some part of it to the left-hand side of a line dividing the pitch down the centre);

Laws 25 (Wide ball), 26 (Bye and Leg bye), 27 (Appeals): Rewording and clarification of 25.5, 25.6, 26.1, 26.2, 26.3, 27.5, 27.6, 27.8;

Law 28 (The wicket is down): Changes to 28.1; Rewording and clarification of 28.3, 28.4;
Any part of a striker's bat is capable of putting the wicket down, and a part of teh bat which breaks off is to be treated the same as a bat which has fallen from the batsman's hands;

Law 29 (Batsman out of his ground): Changes to 29.1;
A batsman is considered to be in his ground if some part of his foot has landed beyond the popping crease, but his forward momentum causes him to lose contact with the ground;

Laws 31 (Timed out), 32 (Caught), 33 (Handled the ball), 34 (Hit the ball twice), 35 (Hit wicket), 36 (Leg before wicket), 37 (Obstructing the field), 38 (Run out), 39 (Stumped), 40 (The wicket-keeper), 41 (The fielder): Rewording and clarification of 31.1, 32.3, 32.4, 32.5, 33.1, 33.3, 34.2, 34.3, 34.4, 34.5, 35.2, 36.1, 26.3, 37.1, 37.4, 37.5, 38.1, 38.2, 38.4, 39.1, 39.2, 39.3, 40.5, 41.2, 41.3, 41.4, 41.6;

Law 42 (Fair and unfair play): Changes to 42.14; Rewording and clarification of 42.3, 42.4, 42.5, 42.6, 42.7, 42.8, 42.9, 42.10, 42.12, 42.13, 42.15, 42.16, 42.17, 42.18;
42.14 - Batsmen damaging the pitch now receive one less warning than before. First offence is a warning, second and any further offences incur a further warning and any runs scored are disallowed, as well as 5 penalty runs to the fielding side. This brings 42.14 in line with 42.13 (Fielder damaging the ball) where only one warning is given before penalty runs are applied.

Appendices D and E: Rewording and clarification;



NB: In the LV= County Championship, the playing conditions have changed so that, under Law 24.6, any ball bouncing more than once or rolling before reaching the popping crease is judged a no ball. This does not apply to other, non-1st class cricket.