In the age of revolts, there has been a similar movement led by Real Sarfaraz Nawaaz; on behalf of all the world's bowlers in LOI formats. The game is too batsman oriented he says. The benefit of the doubt is always with the batsman. If things keep trending the way they have been; with free-hits, field restrictions and strict leg-side wides; scores of 500 will be routine, he says.
Here is the bowlers bill of rights
- A team should be allowed to designate 2 bowlers who can bowl up to 15 overs in a 50 over game. This will tilt the balance of power to sides who have good strike bowlers. Let the Styens and the Swans flourish. Crowds will flock to see them.
- If a bowler bowls a maiden over, there should be an additional ball when the batsman has to hit a boundary. Failure to do that should result in a dismissal - "Maidened Out". There should be no fielding restrictions for that ball. If batsmen can have "free hits", bowlers need their own "free balls".
- Bouncer limits should be applicable only when bowling to numbers 8 - 11 in the batting line up. Captains are free to shuffle their batting order to send Suresh Raina at number 8. When faced with a bouncer he bats like a tail-ender and should bat at at a skill-appropriate slot.
- If batsmen attempt to play a shot at ball narrowly missing the leg stump and does not connect, it should not be a wide.
- In a game tied on scores, the number of wickets taken by the bowling side must break the tie before jokers are invited to perform circus acts; also known as 'super over'. In tie breaking scenarios for group standings is multi team events net strike rates should be used over net run rates. Then lets see if Dhoni keeps selecting Harbhajan Singh.
The bill has found strong support amongst Sachin fans.
4 comments:
Chanakya,
I absolutely adore this one. 15 might be unacceptable to many. But 12 overs to two bowlers might be a good idea. And I am not joking here.
And how about 1 bouncer per batsman per over ?
One more thing... Even if a spinning or swinging ball is pitched outside the leg stump, the LBW should be allowed if the ball is supposed to hit any part of the middle stump below the level of bails in case of a back-foot LBW. The blind spot should not be an issue with slower bowlers. Even for pacers, back foot LBW should be allowed.
That 15 over for 2 bowlers is a great idea. Like Govind, even I used to feel up until now that 12 overs for 2 bowlers will be a good idea... but now that you have mentioned 15 overs, that doesn't seem too much to me either.
The bouncer rule should be removed completely for the top-7 batsmen in Test cricket atleast. In ODIs, keep it to 2 bouncers per over. And in T20s, keep it to 1 bouncer per over.
Govind,
I think 12 will be too small an increment to make substantial difference.
On the LBW for balls pitching outside the leg. I think the law is too complicated in its current form to suggest any tweaking.
Shridhar,
We can only dream about the bouncers. I say if they bring the boundary ropes any closer, bowlers should be allowed to bowl under arm.
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