legendary West Indies paceman Curtly Ambrose who took 225 ODI and 405 Test wickets for the West Indies believes that one-day cricket’s rules favoured batsmen so much that teams might as well use bowling machines to send down deliveries. Excerpts from his chat:
Are the rules skewed towards batsmen now than the bowlersIJ
It’s too one-sided and the powers-that-be need to look at this seriously and make it a little more even, because at the moment it’s all about batting. The bowlers, they can’t play cricket. Soon they might have to get in bowling machines.
What rules do you find are making it tougher for the bowlersIJ
Everything favours the batsman. A bowler trains hard to do the best for his team, oversteps the front mark and there’s a free hit, the powerplays and all that stuff — I’m totally not for it. I believe as a bowler, if you bowl well enough, you can keep it real tight and they can’t score. (But now) all of sudden they’re taking the powerplay and the field moves around so they can score runs.
Is sledging a necessary aspect of the sportIJ
I don’t believe in it, I don’t think that sledging is a part of the cricket. If you’re a good enough player, you should let the bat or the ball do the talking for you.
How do you see your side fairing against New Zealand at Wellington on SaturdayIJ
We’ve got some dangerous players as well, it just depends what happens on the day. If we make a good start, blunt their attack early and play to our potential, I believe we have every chance of beating them.
How much of a role will pressure play on SaturdayIJ
That extra pressure could take a toll if they are not strong enough mentally. We’re not under pressure. According to cricket pundits we don’t stand a chance, so we’re going to go out there and enjoy our cricket and play to win.