Mankading! - It's sum's it up really.

The Blogathonrunner went home from her day job yesterday and appeared to return home to a controversy of gargantuan proportions when she started watching the One Day Cricket International between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston.

For those who prefer to exist outside the cricketing bubble and have missed all the furore over the past 24 hours, basically, Jos Butler of England was run out by Sri Lankan bowler  Sachithra Senanayake, as he was meandering out of his crease backing up as Senanayake was about bowl.

Now for some reason which I can't quite fathom Sri Lanka have been cast as the pantomime villains in this incident because they have sought to gain an advantage by unconventional means admittedly and that of course breaches every sportsmanlike code of conduct and English man and his dog expect.

So what is the Blogathonrunner's opinion on this saga.  Well I'm frankly not going to lose sleep over the entire subject, but I would like make a few points:

1) Apparently under the current laws of the game of Cricket, Senanayake was absolutely entitled to do some Mankading to Jos Butler yesterday.  If it's perfectly legal, what the hell is the fuss about?
2) Jos Butler, was politely warned by Senanayake of the fact if he was meandering down the crease without due care and attention he would be at risk of the old Mankading if he wasn't careful.  He chose not to heed such a warning, and eventually paid the consequences by not keeping at least part of his bat in the crease.  He has only himself to blame.
3) If Jos Butler is a few yards out of his crease meandering or otherwise, he has gained an advantage unintentionally or not.  Say for example, if he goes for a quick single, those few yards could mean the difference between him keeping his wicket or being run out at the other end.
4) Why on earth did the umpires need to check with the Sri Lankan captain, that he was supporting his player's appeal?  If the letter of the law says he's out, Sri Lanka make an appeal, he's out!
5) Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to employ the term "Mankading" to describe such an incident in cricket?  I appreciate it derives from a gentleman by the name of Vinoo Mankad, an Indian cricketer who effectively invented this type of run out dismissal, but it just sounds bizarre.  Please people of this world, Butler was RUN OUT!

On a more serious note though, England seem to be framing this incident around the Sri Lankan team's sportsmanship or lack of in their opinion and the fact if they were in a similar situation they would feel uncomfortable taking the same action.  Maybe, just maybe, it is the English cultural mind set that needs to change.  Taking advantage of the rules laid down by a governing body is not an offence in 21st century sport.  It's called that ugly word "Ruthlessness" and quite often teams, individuals find themselves on the winning side.