How cricket will change

Cricket will undergo a transformation if all suggestions of the ICC Chief Executives' Committee are taken on board.

Cricket will undergo a slew of transformations if suggestions made by the ICC Chief Executives8217; Committee are taken on board by the ICC Executive Board. Once approved,the following changes will come into effect on October 1,with far-reaching implications for the future of the game:

No runners: Injured batsmen will not be able to call on a teammate to run for them,and will either have to hobble on in pain or retire hurt. Controversy had always surrounded the provision of a runner,especially with regard to the fielding captain8217;s say in the batsman being allowed one. In Chennai in 1997,Saeed Anwar blasted a then-record ODI score of 194,with Shahid Afridi doing his running for nearly 30 overs. Later in the same match,Rahul Dravid also suffered cramps on his way to a century,but only had a runner8217;s assistance for two overs,before Pakistan skipper Rameez Raja objected.

The theoretical scope for the misuse of runners has also been a bone of contention. Andrew Strauss denied Graeme Smith,who had already reached his hundred,a runner during a Champions Trophy match in 2009,reasoning that,at the end of a long innings,you8217;re going to be tired.

But from a spectator point of view,the runner has always provided an extra injection of drama a heightened possibility of run outs,or the spectacle of an injured batsman defying pain to post a big score. Last year,VVS Laxman scripted two magnificent fourth-innings chases in successive Tests with a bad back. Whether he could have done so without a runner is debatable,but cricket would have been poorer without those knocks.

New balls from both ends in ODIs: One of Geoffrey Boycott8217;s pet grouses concerns the inability of a species that has travelled to the moon to create a white cricket ball that stays white. The ICC first tried to combat this by mandating a ball change after 33 overs of any ODI innings. Their new suggestion will see two new balls used in every ODI innings,one from each end. This move could have plenty of implications for the future of the 50-overs game. Conventional swing,especially under lights,could go on for twice as long,and bowlers like James Anderson or Sreesanth,who have struggled to adapt to ODIs,might suddenly come into favour. But reverse swing,already marginalised by the mandatory ball change,might disappear altogether except on the most abrasive surfaces.

Spinners might have to adapt to bowling with a far shinier ball than normal a tricky ask during day-night games in the subcontinent,where dew plays a major role. Slow-medium dibbly-dobbly bowlers,so reliant on the batsman8217;s inability to time the softer ball,could also die out.

Power plays during middle overs: The lack of intensity of the 8216;middle overs8217; has always been 50-overs cricket8217;s biggest turn-off. Batting and bowling powerplays were brought in to combat this only for the fielding side to unfailingly take theirs from overs 11 to 15 and the batting side to reserve theirs for the final five-over dash.

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The ICC has reacted to this by mandating that these two five-over windows of field restrictions will have to be used up between overs 16 and 40. There is a sense that captains have further been limited in their decision-making,but the move might bring in some much-needed unpredictability in tactics.