Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc said that the ICC should revert to the rule of using one ball in ODIs instead of two balls. Back in 2011, the apex cricket board brought in the change and Starc reckoned that it has tilted the game in favour of the batters to a large extent.
The 33-year-old Starc said that bowlers will get some breathing space if they are able to generate reverse swing with the old ball.
“I still think it should be one ball not two. The ball stays harder for longer. As we’ve seen here, the grounds are quite small, wickets are flat,” Starc was quoted as saying to the reporters.
Starc, who is currently in India for World Cup 2023, said that with grounds getting smaller and wickets becoming flatter, bowlers need some respite.
“If anything in world cricket, wickets have gotten flatter and I think if you look at some of that old footage when they bowled with one ball, reverse swing comes into it a lot more, that actually brings the bowlers back into the game, and I don’t think it’s any secret that one day cricket and probably T20 cricket as well is a batter’s game and bowlers just have to hang on,” he stated.
“I think there’s a lot of contributing factors; speed’s not the be all and end all over here in India as well,” Starc added.
In eight matches in the ongoing mega event on Indian soil, Starc has picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 6.55. Starc has a massive task in hand when the Aussies face Temba Bavuma’s South Africa in the second semi-final on Thursday, November 16 at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
