Every time batter leaves crease before front foot lands, dock them a run: Mitchell Starc

Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has advocated for stringent laws for batters who leave the crease at the non-strikers' end before the bowler has even delivered the ball. Starc has suggested that a team should be docked of a run for this offense.

Starc's remarks have come after he refused to run out England limited-overs skipper Jos Buttler at the non-strikers' end when the arch-rivals had locked horns in the third T20I at the Manuka Oval last week. Buttler reportedly stepped out from the crease at the bowlers' end on a few occasions and that is when Starc finally had enough and confronted the batter saying, "I am not Deepti, but I might do it (run him out)."

There are cameras for front foot no-balls: Mitchell Starc

"There are cameras for front foot no-balls, a camera there all the time [in international cricket] and someone watching the line”, said Starc while speaking to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Every time the batter leaves the crease before the front foot lands, dock them a run. There’s no grey area then. And in T20 cricket where runs are so handy at the backend 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?,"  he wondered.

The run-out at the non-strikers' end became a debatable topic after India women's spin bowling all-rounder Deepti Sharma had run out Charlie Dean during the third WODI against England at Lord's last month. The issue seemed to be getting out of hand before the custodians of cricketing laws MCC themselves intervened and made it cleared that Deepti had done nothing wrong and that this mode of dismissal is well within the spirit of the game.

Meanwhile, Mitchell Starc would be hoping to bamboozle the world-class batters with his well-disguised yorkers in the ongoing T20 World Cup  at home. Australia begins their title defense on Saturday, October 22 against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand at the SCG.