England get Ashes warning over Aussie 'Mankading'published at 12:34 GMT 20 November
Timothy Abraham
BBC Sport Journalist
Image source, Getty ImagesEngland's batters have been warned to stay in their crease at the non-striker's end during the Ashes to prevent Australia's bowlers 'Mankading' them.
Former England seamer Matthew Hoggard said Ben Stokes and his team-mates need to be on their guard against a mode of dismissal which has occurred just four times in the history of Test cricket.
Hoggard "hated" the way Jonny Bairstow was controversially run out by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey during the 2023 Ashes even though it was "within the laws of the game".
Australia captain Pat Cummins declined to recall Bairstow, who left his ground at the striker's end during the Lord's Test thinking the ball was dead and over had been called.
And with the stakes so high in the forthcoming Ashes, Hoggard could not rule out the Aussies using an equally contentious - but legal - mode of taking wickets.
"I cannot envisage Ben Stokes doing it [Mankading]. I just don't think he would. Or Brendon McCullum [wanting England] doing that," Hoggard told BBC Sport.
"I don't see it coming from an English side of things. When you talk about Australia, they had a captain who used to rub the ball with sandpaper. So who knows?"
Hoggard, who was part of England's 2005 Ashes-winning team, offered a piece of straightforward advice before Friday's first Test in Perth.
"Don't leave your crease and you'll be all right. It's as simple as that," he added.
Hoggard hopes the Ashes isn't overshadowed by "the darker side of cricket" such as "a Mankad or controversial decision" but does not want the series to lose any of its spice.
"You want that little bit of needle," said Hoggard, who took 248 wickets in 67 Tests for England between 2000 and 2008.
"You want a little bit of bashing heads. But you don't want it to go too far.
"You've got to be smart the way about the way you try and wind the opposition up."
