‘Bowling is rubbish’

“Bowling is rubbish” Graham Swann said last night. And you know what he means.

What with dull pitches, shorter boundaries, better bats and umpires like Billy ‘not out’ Doctrove, the lot of a bowler has never been tougher.

So why not change the rules to make life a little more interesting?

How about changing the rules so that the batsman can be given out LBW whether he is hit in line with the stumps or not? From outside the off stump, anyway, any ball that strikes the batsman on the pads and would have gone on to hit the stumps should be given out.

Not only would this reward bowlers for their skill, but it would encourage batsmen to be more positive. They’d certainly be less likely to prod forward with bat behind pad.

And it would speed up the pace of the game. They’d be no need for the reduction to four days – as suggested by some at the ICC – and it should create more exciting cricket.