Mankad controversy hits club cricket

A Mankad dismissal in an eighth grade match near Melbourne has added to a controversial weekend in Victorian club cricket.

As the Victorian Turf Cricket Associationissued a reward for information about a pitch that was vandalised in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, a player in a Geelong Cricket Association eighth grade match has been criticised for Mankading a batsman in his side's win on Saturday.

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Newcomb & District Cricket Club bowler Josh Buckle, a local radio personality, dismissed Newtown & Chilwell batsman Allan Smith, a 58-year-old visiting English player, in their 40-over match at Eastern Park around 90 minutes out of Melbourne.

Newtown & Chilwell were 3-24 at the time in pursuit of 331 for victory when Buckle removed the bails at the bowler's end with Smith short of his ground. Buckle appealed and the umpire raised his finger to confirm Smith's dismissal.

Newtown & Chilwell captain Neville Crane, who was batting with Smith at the time, said he's never seen the dismissal in 62 years of playing cricket.

"I was just so shocked and disappointed,” Crane, 70, told the Geelong Advertiser.

"I thought about walking off, but then I thought it would be stooping to that sort of level.

"I’ve been playing since I was eight and in all that time I have never seen a Mankad. That says something.

"I had to tell (Smith) that that is not the way Australians play their sport.

“We had absolutely no chance of winning the game so when it happened I just turned to their captain and said ‘why would you want to do that?’

"I think their players were as shocked as we were."

The Mankad, a dismissal that is perfectly legal but frowned upon as being against the spirit of the game, garnered international headlines last month when the West Indies used it during their triumphant campaign at the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh.

Just weeks later, Oman bowler Aamir Kaleem was labelled "cowardly" after Mankading a Hong Kong batsman in their Asia Cup qualifying match in Bangladesh.

The term Mankad has been used for this kind of dismissal since Indian player Vinoo Mankad controversially ran out Australia's Bill Brown during a Test match in Sydney in 1947.

The dismissal hit senior international level in 2014 when England's Jos Buttler was dismissed by Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake.

For the record, Newcomb won the match by 207 runs with Buckle taking 3-16 from eight overs.