I feel rules of cricket needs to be simplified. But they seem to be going in other direction. LBW is a very complex decision. Who is going to decide whether more than half of the ball was pitched outside leg stump? Then whether bat was just hidden behind the pads or genuinely batsman was trying the shot but missed it. All this is subjective. If the ball is going to hit the stumps and if it has not hit the bat at all then you should be given out. Obviously umpire would be the judge. The same eight countries are playing cricket for some years now. Complexity of rules might be another reason for the disinterest of the viewers worldwide.
Excellent viewpoint! I have also always felt that LBW has to be tinkered with. Abolish all this pitching in line rubbish. If the ball's going to hit the stumps, you are out. That way, there would be less number of bad decisions.
Posted by: Swapnil Shah at August 7, 2008 9:14 PM
I donot agree. The subjective, human, unpredictable nature of Cricket is a significant part of the charm of the game. Sure, I swear at the umpire whenever a decision goes against one of my favorite players or teams but in the end that contributes to the fun. I am all for technology and review system but the balance between bat and ball needs to be maintained and the human factore needs to be maintained too. Otherwise, we can just have Robots playing instead of humans.
Posted by: Peter Thomas at August 8, 2008 11:11 AM
LBW could be simplified by saying that the batsman is out even if he has touched the ball with the bat before it hits the pad. If he hits the ball on to the stumps, he is bowled, so why should it be any different for lbw? This would make it easier for umpires.
Posted by: Nina at August 8, 2008 12:27 PM
I disagree with the last comment
Posted by: Barath at August 12, 2008 7:11 PM
@Peter: The point of having LBW is so the batsman always makes an effort to hit the ball with the bat. If he has nicked it, it meant he attempted a shot and it would be unfair to penalise him for that.
And Swapnil, how does changing the rules of LBW bring in robots for players? The umps would still be adjudicating, so there's nothing to worry!
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