In 1839 the MCC , by then responsible for drafting the Laws of Cricket , endorsed the latter interpretation and ruled the batsman out if the ball pitched in between the wickets ( `` in a straight line from it to the striker 's wicket '' ) and `` would have hit it '' .
In 1839 , the MCC ruled that the umpire may rule a batsman out leg before wicket ( lbw ) if the ball would have struck the wickets .