Keeping it simple

Bob Woolmer's recent suggestions to legalise ball-tampering in order to even things out between batsmen and bowlers may not be in the best interests of the game, writes Bob Simpson in Sportstar. The trend of batsmen leaking runs at will has coincided with the decline in bowling standards.

But why, after 100 years plus and in an era which is claimed to be the most scientific and professional ever, do bowlers need outside aid and changes to the law when, for over a century, Test bowlers have used guile, skill, hard work and the mastery of line and length to obtain results? Is it that the modern bowlers have lost all these abilities?

The way forward is for bowlers to keep it simple, like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, who've each fetched over 500 Test wickets by just sticking to the basics.