TRIAL NO-BALL RULE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30103, 10 April 1963, Page 13

TRIAL NO-BALL RULE

r THE new no-ball which x will be tried in Britain this year should do much to eliminate the controversy about fast bowlers dragging. The new rule says that a no-ball will be called when the bowler’s front foot is over the batting crease before the ball is released. At present a no-ball is called when the bowler’s back foot is over the bowling crease before the ball is delivered.

Dragging by fast bowlers has not been stopped by the present rule. A series of magic eye photographs of the England fast bowler, F. S. Truman, bowling in the third test at Lancaster Park Stowed that on one occasion at least his back foot was almost up to the batting crease before he released the ball. The advantage he would gain from bowling from that shortened distance at his speed is easy to imagine. Under the present rule the umpire has to look at the bowler’s erm—foe throwing—his back foot, for a no-ball and then almost simultaneously, look for an lbw decision or a catch. The three checks just cannot be made properly under the present rule so dragging has been often overlooked, provided the bowler’s back foot

has been behind the bowling crease when he started to deliver the ball. The new rule will make the umpire’s task easier but it will pose some problems for bowlers. Fast bowlers, in particular, take a long stride and R. W. Blair and R. C. Mote, for example, regularly land their front foot on the bowling crease at the moment of delivery.