Changing the mode of BATTING

[srinivasan]

Hi, what should be the decision of the umpire(s) when a batsman suddenly decides to change his mode of batting (ie) a right handed batsman decides to bat left handed (not the reverse sweep).

Srinivasan
Muscat, Oman

[swerveman]

I believe the batsman can change his style any time he likes, but he must be careful over LBW. The leg side he starts with remains the leg side for LBW decisions, so he can be given out LBW to a ball that pitches outside his "new" leg stump, because it was his off stump originally.

[gooders]

Applying Law 43, I would suggest that if the batsman has indicated his intention to change from a right handed stance to left handed, or vice versa, then his leg stump will also change sides. If however the bowler has commenced his run up (or action if he has no run up), and the ball is live, and the batsman changes his stance, then the leg/on side and off side remain as they were when the ball became live.

[swerveman]

Yes, good point. I presumed the change in stance was during the bowler's runup, but it may just have been between balls.

What did you actually mean, Srinivasan?

[srinivasan]

Thank you swerveman and gooders.

I was keen to know about this when the batsman changes the stance after the bowler has commenced his run up. However, apart from the leg/off sides changing, would this not be construed to be unfair, as the slips and wicket keeper could be on wrong sides. Also, the Striker's end Umpire would be in the wrong side for normal proceedings of the game.

[missingleg]

srinivasan, that's a fair point about the slips (though that would mainly apply to a fast bowler and anyone attempting to 'switch-hit' a fast bowler would be a fool).

I say let the batsman switch-hit as much as he likes - it's a poor percentage shot and will result in an increase of the probablity of the batsman getting out.


As for the striker's end umpire, it there is really no right or wrong side for him to stand (that may be why he's called the 'striker's end umpire' these days, rather than 'square leg umpire'), though square leg is commonly prefferred. Indeed, I would say it's often more sensible to stand on the striker's off-side since you can see how many fielders are behind square on the leg side and can help your partner in issues of catches carrying to the wicketkeeper/slips.

[jaybee]

Sept 5, 2008 6:07:44 GMT srinivasan said:

... apart from the leg/off sides changing, would this not be construed to be unfair, as the slips and wicket keeper could be on wrong sides....

Really it's no more unfair than giving the batsman 'the charge' (by taking a few steps down the wicket).
The LBW law - 36(3) - caters for this situation and thus condones it by saying that the moment the ball comes into play governs where the off side is.
To alter this rule would have other ramifications - for instance if there were 2 slips and a gully on what became the leg side the delivery would become a No Ball under Law 41(5).
As missingleg says the batsman takes a big risk by switching - if he gets away with it he may be rewarded; if he doesn't the fielding side profits. That seems fair to me.