Many people would remember Greg Chappell instructing his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball of a one-dayer against New Zealand 'underarm' in 1980-81. The idea was to prevent the batsman from even trying to hit a six, for that stage, the Kiwis needed six to tie the game. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that incident, and underarm bowling has been outlawed, except if both sides agree to the same before the start of the match.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. If underarm bowling is not permitted, then why not send down an overarm delivery that either rolls along the pitch or bounces three-four times before reaching the striker? Well, well the law does not even permit this. Any delivery that bounces more than twice or rolls along the ground is called a no-ball.

The umpire can also no-ball a delivery that may have been bowled so slowly that it comes to rest in front of the striker in the middle of the pitch. In such a case, the umpire will call 'dead ball' after calling 'no ball'.
 

Thus, the no-ball law provides for virtually every possible 'reaction' to an 'action'!

The stumps at either end are 22 yards / 66 feet or 20-12 meters away from each other. The striker takes guard on the popping crease, which is 4 feet in front of the stumps. The bowler can bowl with his front foot on the popping crease at his feet i.e. four feet away from the stumps. Thus, the distance between batsman and bowler is around 58 feet. This proximity gives batsmen hardly 1/16th of a second to react to bowlers like Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar, who are known to operate at nearly 150 kmph!

Till 1963, the law required the bowler to land his rear foot behind the bowling crease - the one in line with the stumps. The umpire called a no-ball if the bowler's rear foot touched or overstepped this line. This led to a situation wherein bowlers with unusually long strides started landing their front leg a foot or two in front of the popping crease, thus reducing the distance from the batsman at the point of delivery.

The return crease in those days was at a right angle to the bowling crease and was only six inches long. It was meant to prevent the bowler from going too wide of the stumps. However, this return crease was deemed as unlimited in length.

The criticism of the back foot rule prompted the MCC (then the law makers) to introduce the current law, wherein the position of the front foot has to be limited to the popping crease. The back foot is required to land within the return crease without touching it. The new law came into force in 1964.

Changes in crease marking: A significant change was the marking of the return creases on both sides of the stumps for four feet instead of the prevalent six inches. The return crease is still considered unlimited in length (imaginary), although it may now be marked for four feet.

When the revised law came into force in the English County season of 1964, the bowler was not supposed to touch the popping crease with his front foot. However, there was an amendment the following year. Bowlers were now permitted to touch the crease, but not exceed it. Another year later, it was ruled that the foot could land across the line, but some part of it had to be grounded behind the popping crease. The law was modified for the last time in 1971. The current law states that some part of the foot be either grounded or raised over the popping crease. The actual popping crease is the inner edge of the crease.

There has been no change with regard to the relationship between the back foot and return crease. Some slow bowlers like Saqlain Mushtaq occasionally deliver a ball with the front foot well behind the bowling crease to deceive the batsman. Some pacemen also do this, particularly when they want to bowl a slower ball. Anil Kumble also does this, but only in Tests.

The new front-foot rule ensured that batsmen heard the no-ball call later than what used to be the case in the days of the back-foot rule. This gives a batsman very little time in which to try and take advantage of an illegitimate delivery.

It is very difficult for the umpire to switch his eyes from the popping crease to the path of the ball after release. An experiment was tried out in the 2004 ICC Trophy, wherein the third umpire would call 'no ball' and the field umpire had to only watch the ball being realized. The innovation, although interesting, was discontinued.

- By Piloo Reporter