When the leg prior to wicket law was codified, in the 18 th century, it specified the batsman was out if he “put his leg prior to the wicket with a style to stop the ball …” Umpires were therefore called to judge objective.
Law 36 has actually stayed a bugbear, calling for judgement of line, intent, and just recently, predictive course decided by a robotic.
The Don’s take
In the 1930 s, Don Bradman wrote to the Marylebone Cricket Club, custodians of the Laws, recommending that a batsman be provided out to a ball pitching outside the off stump if in the opinion of the umpire it would have gone on to strike the stumps (regardless of where it pitched).
