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Please read my story in full before booing and attacking me.
I am not condoning what Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft did last Saturday in the Cape Town Test. What they did was wrong but, I agree with Shane Warne that the punishment they have received is in excess. Others have done it in the past and have received far less severe penalties.
I am not going to list the ball-tamperers, the list is already published. But I can’t get past Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s ball-biting classic. In a T20 international against Australia in Perth on 30 January 2010, acting captain Afridi was caught on the camera biting a cricket ball on the field.
It appeared he was hungry and mistook the ball for an apple!
His punishment: a ban from the next two T20 internationals. Compare this to the punishments Smith, Warner and Bancroft have recently received. Now I’ll come to my controversial suggestions.
Cricket has become a batsman’s game and has been getting more batsman-friendly in recent decades. Before World War II, the pitches were not covered. A heavy rainfall and teams would be dismissed for under 120.
Nowadays the moment raindrops keep falling on an umpire’s hat, back go the players in the pavilion followed anon with the covers being laid on the pitch.
But wait, there’s more. Have you seen the width of the bat these days? This has increased considerably the ‘middle of the bat’ when a gentle push from the bat sends the ball racing to the boundary line.
And talking of boundary lines, it has shrunk significantly. On many occasions a catch in the past decades is a six these days, don’t you think?
This is not only in T20 clashes and ODIs but also in first-class matches and in Tests. I realise the short boundaries makes the game more entertaining for the spectators.
But what about the bowlers? Don’t you think that a hat-trick or a Warne classic of dismissing Mike Gatting in the June 1993 Ashes Test in Manchester equally spectacular? It is still remembered as the ball of the century.
Law enforcers, don’t forget the bowlers. They are people too and they also pull in spectators.
Here are a few suggestions:
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Roar readers, please do not jump on me and throw rotten eggs and tomatoes in my direction but consider my suggestions logically. You are welcome to add your counter suggestions.
Do you remember the time when some countries had made alcohol consumption illegal? More people started drinking home-brewed and fatal methanol until alcohol prohibition was lifted.
Legalised and well-defined ball tampering for a maximum of five seconds once every 30 overs will see the end of dangerous and sneakily surreptitious ball-tampering.
PS: This is not an April Fools prank!