Bright Prospects For English Cricket

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31032, 12 April 1966, Page 16

Bright Prospects For English Cricket

(NZ.P.A. -Reuter—Copyright? I LONDON. ! Cricket has a wonderful opportunity to re-establish itself in Britain this summer. The World Cup soccer tournament will take away some! limelight but cricket author!-: ties have taken the precaut-| ion of arranging no test; matches in July—so avoiding a major clash. For the rest the attractive; West Indies players can look after themselves. Rarely has interest been so high before the start of a season. The five test grounds Lord's, Manchester Leeds. Nottingham and the Oval—report astonishing figures for advance bookings. With the; matches all-ticket at a mini-: mum price of 10s a seat record receipts at all the test grounds seem certain. It is only three years since i West Indies last toured. It trounced England in 1963. winning three tests, losing one and drawing the other. Crowd Pleasers

Such was its pulling power | that arrangements were made! for twin tours—hence the; quick return of these popular!

I cricketers from the Caribbean. ■ Under the captaincy of Gary Sobers, and other personalities in the party as R. Kanhai. W. Hall, C. Griffith and C. Hunte, the West Indies can scarcely fail to bring in the crowds. One dark shadow hdvers .the tour—the question of the I legality of the bowling action 'of Griffith. Griffith, who was once called in West Indies, escaped censure in England in 1963. Since then the arguments have really come to a ihead. The West Indies team has agreed to adopt the proced>ure which applied last year. Umpires must call what they (Consider obvious throwers on i the field but report doubtful ; cases to M.C.C. which then i advise the touring team. In fact, umpires have to report on ail bowlers after a match, and should anything adverse be given on Griffith, ithe matter will be settled off . the field.

Whatever happens, it is to be hoped that the tour will not be ruined by controversy. Changes in Counties

On the domestic side, in Britain it is going to be a season of experiment. While membership of county clubs

has remained high, the drop in paying spectators has caused concern. A number of alterations will be seen this season. Most important is that each county will play 12 matches in which overs in the first innings will be limited to 65, with no restriction on the number of overs bowled by each man. ITte remaining 16 county games will be played under normal conditions. This has caused a slight change in the system of scoring. In future, there will be 12 points at stake instead of 10. The side leading on first innings will take two points, with an additional 10 if they win.

Bowlers no longer will be able to polish the ball or rub the shine off it. Only wiping and cleaning of the ball will be allowed—under the supervision of umpires. Speeding Game

To speed up the game, county committees must instruct their teams to achieve an average of 20 overs an hour and if the target is not achieved, they should submit a report to M.C.C. giving reasons why. Also, stronger action will be taken in cases of time wasting, which the M.C.C. has considered as “unfair play,” and the new ball can be taken only after 85 overs. There will be a certain amount of “go as you please” about county cricket. No longer will there be a maximum of 75 yards for boundaries; ground authorities will be left to decide the limit for themselves.

This could bring back good throwing and possibly all-run fives. Covering of pitches will also vary a good deal, from almost complete covering to nothing at all. Again the decision will be left to individual counties.

Another change is on legside limitation of fieldsmen. This has been relaxed so that the only limit is that not more than two players can be behind the batting crease on the leg side. This should help the genuine off-spinner set a proper field. English bowlers with suspect actions may be put out of the game for the season. An adjudicating committee has been set up with powers to suspend anyone getting one or more adverse reports. Already, H. Rhodes, of Derbyshire, has been examined by the committee which cleared his basic action. The decision whether he throws the occasional ball has been deferred. Sunday Play

An innovation is playing cricket on Sundays. Thirteen championship games and one other first-class match will start on Saturday, and continue on Sunday and Monday. Sunday play will start after lunch and although no actual gate money can be taken, other methods of raising revenue will be tried. If this goes well, there could be a lot more Sunday cricket in future years