5 changes which can bring transparency to Cricket

While the ICC is tearing their hair apart regarding the portion of the ball hitting the stumps for validating an LBW decision, there are a few other changes that may be implemented for the betterment and simplification of the game.

Leg Before Wicket (LBW)

Not digressing from the LBW saga, here’s another change that might be added to it just to simplify the decision-making further. At times the batsman gets away with LBW decisions in their favour while stretching forward for a defensive shot or on dancing down the track and getting thudded on the pads.

The area of confusion is how much should a batsman be forward for eluding an LBW decision. A debated topic since DRS’s (Decision Review System) coronation to the global stage, it has enraged players over the years. The projected path can never be 100% accurate to the path which the ball will eventually travel from the point of connection to the pads.

There needs to be a particular arena within which the batsman needs to get hit in order to be given out and taking into consideration every permutation and combination the agreed distance has to be finalized by the ICC. The rule goes this way:

On field calls: The leg umpire communicates to his partner where the ball had hit and then the umpire can go ahead with his decision

Referred calls: Apart from other nuances of the LBW law, the third umpire has to check the point of contact of the ball with the pads provided that the ball hasn’t made contact with the bat on its way to the pads.

The popping crease:

They say that “The Line belongs to the Umpire”- A rule that has taken center-stage for decades in Cricket. Be it the bat rooted to the popping crease or for that matter, be it a bullet released by the bowler tantalizingly going over the guiding line for a wide (provided the batsman is in his normal stance).

The question which arises is how much should be the width of the popping crease. It’s inevitable that more the width, the less will be the margin of error for the players. The expansion of the width will only inject doses of perplexity among the bowlers resulting in diversion from the strategies that they will be planning against the batsman.

The batsman will also go through a torrid time, both while running between the wickets and while evading stumpings.

The front foot no-ball

For someone following the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) 2016, it won’t be something unfamiliar. Tabraiz Shamsi and Sunil Narine got the benefit of doubt in one of the most controversial dismissals in cricket. I wonder if there was any scope of suspicion in ruling the batsman out.

Replays showed that the first point of contact of the heel with the ground was on the line and zooming in the frames hardly made any difference. The rule says that at first contact with the ground some part of the heel must be over the popping crease to be counted as a legitimate delivery. A clarity of the rule is a dire requisite in order to simplify the game.

The 6’s-over-boundaries

At times the ball agonizingly evades a leaping fielder to register as an over-boundary and there are times when balls climb the roofs at a distance of 120 meters from the batting crease. Both go down on the scoreboard as six runs scored against the fielding team.

Here is where a petite deviation is needed from the age-old law saying that it only requires the ball to clear the ropes in order to score six runs irrespective of by how much distance the ball has crossed over the boundary ropes.

Cricket has raced its way into technical brilliance calculating the distance of the sixes. It will be fairer to some extent for the batsman if the runs are calculated as per the distance travelled by the ball. Here’s how the rule may be fragmented:

0-15 meters over the boundary ropes: 6 runs

16-30 meters over the boundary ropes: 6+1= 7 runs

31-45 meters over the boundary ropes: 6+2= 8 runs

45+ meters over the boundary ropes: 6+3= 9 runs

Switch Bowl

Pietersen hitting a switch hit

If a batsman has got the leverage of playing the Switch Hits, then the bowlers shouldn’t be deprived of bowling opposite handed. Kamindu Mendis- the ambidextrous spinner of Sri Lanka bowled left-arm orthodox before switching to right-arm off spin during a contest in the Under-19 World Cup in India.

The umpire was informed before it was done and the batsman wasn’t kept in the dark either.

Therefore, it’s not that they aren’t trained bowling with opposite hands. The batsman can throw the bowlers of their line and length through interchanging grips and if the same dose is reciprocated on the batsman, then it will only spice up the battle.

Also, if it turns out that way, then it shouldn’t be a limitless leeway for the players. Depending on the format, the quota for playing the ‘Switch Hits’ or bowling with reverse actions should be different for each format.

Cricket is a globally embraced sport and I believe it will be that way for an eternity. While young sportsmen aspire to be a Sachin Tendulkar or a Brian Lara, the craze and love for the game can only proliferate.

And provided the game is a transparent and simplified, it will one day be perched handsomely at the helm of all other sports round the globe.