The surface of the ball naturally deteriorates as it repeatedly hits the ground or a bat. If you could guarantee the deterioration would happen evenly, then nothing doing. However, "swing" happens if you allow the deterioration to happen on one half of the ball only. So bowlers will bowl the ball so that one particular side is always hitting the pitch etc, and "shine" the other side (ostensibly to get dirt off it) .
Force bowlers to throw the ball to ensure that the damage is as uniform as possible and punish them for not doing so. Sorted!
But if they're clearing debris, for example, they need the cars to bunch up and leave parts of the track free for a period. If cars are spread around the track, it will be impossible to deal with these kinds of hazards.
Not quite accurate. They were still asleep from watching the tedious procession known as F1 "racing"............ That'd be a bit revolutionary - at the moment it's against the laws of the game!!!!!!!
If cricket used balls which weren't susceptible to deterioration, bowlers would find it even more difficult. If you think Test cricket is boring now, imagine if every first innings was 650-3 dec plays 650-3 dec. That would be the norm if the ball didn't swing or seam and bounced at a uniform height. Deterioration of pitches gives bowlers some chance too, but many Test wickets comfortably last five days now. Managing the condition of the ball is the main task for any fielding side. If that counted for nothing, it would be very tedious!
If ****ing up the equipment is a necessary skill, then there's something wrong with the sport. Can you imagine footballers benefiting from "accidentally" breaking the goalposts or something? "Oh look, Diego Costa's fly kicked the bar on a corner, again. How unfortunate."
The condition of the ball (or pitch) is not much of an issue in the most popular form of the game T20. Test cricket has many idiosyncrasies and nuances - managing the condition of the ball, for example. But it has lost a lot of popularity in many parts of the world (certainly in terms of spectators at the ground). Perhaps there is a message there. Test cricket is great for aficianados of the game, but most fans want to see batsmen hitting sixes regularly.
You'd think safety regs would mean they had to clear the track, causing the cars to go back to the pits. But it would take ages to re-start the race - warming up the tyres again etc. Lining up behind the safety car (which often slows to very low speeds) appears to be the compromise.
Further to that , it has been confirmed that it wasn't tape but a bit of sandpaper similar to what the players use to clean their bats, this was confirmed by the CEO of CA James Sutherland he also said that it was cheating no other word to describe it- really? Would never have guessed that.
Yes, it's been confirmed today that it was sandpaper. Bancroft had claimed it was yellow tape. Either way, it's clearly cheating. Glad to see the Aussie authorities taking a tough stance on it. I see Warner as the problem- nasty piece of work who seems to be at the centre of anything unsavoury to do with the Aussie team.
I don't know, if a player's willing to play with some sandpaper down their kecks doesn't that technically even the playing field a little?
That actually gets pretty tedious and mind-numbing in the end. It’s like suggesting we reduce football matches to penalty shoot-outs. Anyone like that idea? Thought not. It restricts the contest to just one or two skills, with no room for tension, drama, fightbacks, developments, changes of strategy, long-term defiance...... There's too many people with short attention spans!
You're right, but there's no doubt that the numbers interested in cricket because of the complexities of Test matches is dwindling while the numbers attracted by T20 is increasing. Look at the attendances for each form of the game these days. The ball tampering row will only serve to lessen the appeal of the Test game.
And you’re right, too! Attendances are a real world indication of trends in popularity for both forms of the game. But I can’t help lamenting the decline, brought about by the short-term fix mentality of the 21st century. Don’t get me wrong. I watch T20, too (even the name has to be shortened, apparently!) and enjoy it. But not as much as I do the full-length game, which is where my heart and brain (and 70 years of watching it ) take me! I played club cricket for over 50 years, including tours in five other countries, almost always in a short form of the game. But that merely sustained my appetite for, and appreciation of, the three/four/five-day format. There are some people who believe that T20 can be used as a way into the longer game. But sadly, a lot of people get stuck in the doorway.
Darren Lehmann to resign as coach at the end of this series. He should go now. They're not going to keep this stuff in-house for long. Anyone tainted by it and that may be the lot of them, are better off going right nw.
And in other news to further lower the global esteem for Australian sport...... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-43651208
This Sunday is the biggest event of the wrestling calendar ...oh wait, Wrestle Kingdom was on January 4th.
