Richards has made some controversial calls about the state of modern cricket…
South Africa legend Barry Richards says legal ball tampering should be brought into cricket to help decrease the dominance of batsmen in the modern game.
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In an interview with News Corp, Richards says allowing ball tampering, relaxing leg-side bowling rules and putting restrictions on monster bats were measures that could be introduced the even up the contest between bat and ball.
“Reverse swing is an art. Let the bowlers rub the ball in the dirt if they want because not all bowlers can produce reverse swing,” Richards said.
“Maybe in one-day cricket you could let the better bowlers bowl 25 of the 50 overs, but only two bowlers are nominated before the start to bowl those overs.
“The pressing of cricket bats also has to be controlled and the thickness in their edges.
“Maybe there can also be a designated sweet spot area for bats, ours used to be about the size of a 50 cent piece but now they are much bigger.
“You could also relax cricket’s leg-side rules a bit. These are just a few of my ideas, because batsmen have it too easy these days.”
Richards has some high-profile backing, with ICC chief executive David Richardson last week saying the size of modern bats had “shifted the balance” in favour of batsman.
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