It wouldn't be cricket
Cricket Australia’s latest proposal to revitalise the one-day format would give one batsman from each team the opportunity to bat twice
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
Cricket Australia’s latest proposal to revitalise the one-day format would give one batsman from each team the opportunity to bat twice. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the proposal has come in for some stick from both players and the media. While Daniel Brettig of the AAP likes some of the other modifications – allowing two bouncers an over, for example – he says giving one batsman a second chance is just not cricket.
However the prospect of one nominated "super striker'' getting the chance to bat in the second bracket of overs having been dismissed in the first is as cheap and nasty as it is unnecessary. Batting is based upon the harsh but fair concept that one mistake can mean the end of the road for a batsman. So for one player to get twice as much opportunity as the rest is a scenario that clearly defies this most basic tenet.
Among the numerous arguments against the idea is that it will unfairly reward teams with insufficient depth - Chris Gayle's West Indies, for one - while there is also the matter of what would be done with scoreboards and records.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo