South Africa might implement ICC's new rules - Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the ICC's playing committee, has said that South Africa might be the first country to test the experimental one-day rules that the playing committee had suggested during their last meeting. The Times of India reported Gavaskar as saying that the rules would be implemented in first-class cricket before they could be applied to international matches.

"It has to be seen at the domestic level," Gavaskar said. "The ICC had requested various national associations to start with this experiment. I think South Africa has decided to adopt the format."

The suggestions made by the committee included keeping the ball 'live' after a batsman is out, thus making it possible for two batsmen to be out off the same ball. Also, one-day games could feature 12 players, of who 11 bat and 11 field. Another recommendation was that the 15 overs fielding restrictions in one-day games could be implemented whenever the batting team desired.

Gavaskar denied that this would give the batting side an unfair advantage. "The original suggestion was that itself. But then, the thought came up that if a side which is bowling first bowls out the opposition in the first 35 overs without opting for fielding restrictions, it may become unfair for a side batting first. By giving this option to the batting captain, both captains will come into play."