Looking to come up with bit more leeway for bowlers on wides with ICC: Shaun Pollock

Looking to come up with bit more leeway for bowlers on wides with ICC- Shaun Pollock (Photo by Visionhaus/Corbis via Getty Images)

There has been an ongoing debate over the years that the bowlers have less say when it comes to the rules of the game as several rules are alleged to be favourable to the batters. One particular rule is of the wides, where even if the batter makes a last-moment change from his earlier stance, a wide ball is judged in favour of the batter, giving bowlers a very small margin of error. 

Former South Africa pacer, Shaun Pollock has stated that the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Committee is working towards giving bowlers a bit more freedom on wides. He also added that the current rules are very strict on the bowlers. This has been predominantly evident in ODIs and T20Is where last-minute adjustments from batters disrupt the bowlers’ line and length. As a result, they end up bowling wide deliveries. 

“I’m working on something. I’m obviously part of the ICC Cricket Committee and we’re looking to come up with a bit more leeway for the bowlers on wides. I think it’s very strict on them,” Pollock was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

“If a batter jumps across (at the) last minute, it doesn’t really work out for me. I think a bowler, at the start of his run-up, needs to know where he can bowl it. The current rule tends to suggest that if he moves and it’s that point of delivery where the batter is, and that’s according to where the wide will be called, I want a little bit of a change,” he further added. 

How can a bowler be expected to change his game plan: Pollock

The batter watches a bowler from the run-up and the bowler makes a last minute by bowling an in-swinging delivery, an out-swinger, a short ball or a bounce, he has a minute seconds to choose the preferred shot. But Shaun Pollock believes that the bowlers need to know what delivery they are going to bowl and how with the batter’s stance intact to help them in the cause.

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“I want them to know exactly when they’re running up why or how. How can a bowler be expected to change his game plan at the last second when he’s bowling? He needs to have a clear idea where he can go. So it’s in the pipeline, we’re all discussing. We need to give a little bit back to the bowlers,” Pollock concluded.