Changes to the Laws took effect from October 2017. Some Laws have been changed, some deleted and some added although there are still 42 of them. The best place to familiarise yourselves with these are at www.lords.org Click on the MCC section and open the Laws. There are many animations and filmed examples of the Laws and how to interpret them. All players, especially Team Captains, ought to have knowledge and awareness of the updated Laws thus avoiding those sometimes confrontational, sometimes embarrassing moments during matches. The significant changes are: The new Code of Laws is written in language applying to all persons, regardless of gender. The new Code includes an increased use of generic nouns like ‘fielder’ and ‘bowler’ and uses ‘he/she’ when required, together with a broadened disclaimer covering all genders. The term ‘batsman’ remains, however. The Handled the ball Law has been deleted, with its contents merged into Obstructing the field, reducing the list of dismissals from ten to nine. This will have no effect on whether a batsman is dismissed; rather, it is just the method of dismissal that might be changed. The Lost ball Law has been deleted and is now covered under Dead ball. The old Law 2 has been divided into two separate Laws, relating to the batsmen (Law 25) and the fielders (Law 24). These Laws have changed the concept of Penalty time, which starts to accrue immediately when a player leaves the field and which will also now affect when the player may bat. Law 5 (The Bat) places limits on the thickness of the edges and the overall depth of the bat. The maximum dimensions will be 108mm in width (unchanged), 67mm in-depth with 40mm [...]