"Bowl one or two, then get a warning" - Steve Smith calls for rule change on leg-side short-balls
Former Australia captain Steve Smith wants cricket to treat down-the-leg bouncers differently because batters can't hit them "anywhere in front of the wicket". He called on the stakeholders on Tuesday to bring a rule change where an umpire gives the fast bowler a warning after one or two such balls and then starts calling them wide.
Smith, who is a ready-puller, was troubled immensely by those deliveries from New Zealand pacer Neil Wagner, one of the world's masters of the bouncer. Smith got out to Wagner five times across two series in 2016 and 2019, averaging just 16 against him and was constantly kept quiet with accurate leg-stump bumpers.
"I think there could be some slight rule changes in terms of balls going down the leg side when you set that field," Smith said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
"You really can't hit the ball anywhere in front of the wicket really, and I feel like it is almost like when a (left-arm) spinner comes over the wicket and they get the warning down the leg side and then they start getting 'wided'."
He added:
"If you're bowling balls consistently in that area down leg, it should be a similar ruling to the spinner if that makes sense. Basically bowl one or two, then get a warning and then get wides called.
"To have those catchers (fielders) there in position, it can be challenging for sure. The only thing I'd like to see is if you get too much down leg, you can't really score anywhere else, and all the fielders are there. That would be the only change I wouldn't mind seeing."
Only two bouncers are allowed in an over in Tests. For Wagner, down-the-leg bouncers from over-the-wicket were both an aggressive and defensive strategy.
Unlike the defensive tactics by spinners, pacers all around the world use down-the-leg bouncers by keeping fielders behind the circle on the leg side, attempting to make the batter mistime one to the deep. Adding another wide clause to it might just take a big chunk out of bowlers' already-shortening armory in Tests.
"It can be challenging" - Smith on Wagner's skills
We'd have seen more of the battle but Wagner retired from international cricket just before the start of the two-Test series between Australia and New Zealand after being told he was not part of the Kiwis' best 11.
In the interview, Smith was all praise for the pacer.
"Ultimately it is a good skill what Neil's been able to do, the way he can get the ball between throat and chest height consistently, not bowl his two (bouncers) for the over and just carry on doing it," Smith said. "It's a good skill and it can be challenging, particularly for guys that are pullers of the ball."
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