MCC Bats
There has been a development on a ‘ By the Bye ’ we ran in the spring 2015 magazine . It has been announced that MCC is to debate and decide on a proposal to limit the size of cricket bats within the Laws of Cricket . This decision follows on from the ICC Cricket Committee ’ s recommendation that MCC should consider a change in the Laws of Cricket to help address the perceived imbalance between bat and ball in modern cricket . At this meeting it has been disclosed that John Stephenson , MCC Head of Cricket , presented a research paper evidencing that bats have become more powerful in recent years . A counterargument to this is that this advance in technology has led to faster scoring and therefore attracted new audiences to the game , as well as other factors such as smaller boundaries and better pitches that have given batsmen an advantage .
MCC ’ s World Cricket Committee and Cricket Committee will make a decision in the next month as to whether this change will be included in the new Laws released on 1 October 2017 .
ICC Cricket Committee
The last day of May and first day of June saw Lord ’ s play host to the ICC Cricket Committee . The Cricket Committee is in place to make recommendations on playing issues to the ICC for approval and is currently chaired by legendary Indian spinner Anil Kumble . Issues discussed by the committee included : international cricket structure ; use of technology ; MCC research into the balance between bat and ball ; concussion substitutes ; and helmet safety .
After the meeting , Kumble said : ‘ We have had positive and constructive discussions across a wide range of different issues and I would like to thank all the members for their valuable contributions and input . The main thing that came out of the meeting was regarding Test cricket . The new structure was discussed and everybody was positive and forthcoming in supporting that . The committee acknowledged the importance of efforts being made to promote and grow Test cricket , be it through the introduction of meaningful competition structures , better pitches and marketing . Our recommendations will now be taken forward to the next ICC Chief Executives ’ Committee and the ICC Board meeting in Edinburgh in July .’
Records Tumble at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge was host to one of the most remarkable one-day matches witnessed in cricketing history . The match between Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire included a record English one-day partnership of 342 and a record number of aggregate runs in a one-day match of 870 . Nottinghamshire , batting first , compiled a colossal 445 / 8 from their 50 overs , with Michael Lumb and Riki Wessels sharing the record partnership of 342 ( contributing 176 and 146 respectively ).
Northamptonshire then attempted a remarkable run chase , eventually falling just 20 runs short , with Rory Kleinveldt ’ s 128 off 63 balls propelling them to an agonising 425 all out . As you can imagine the standing umpires were kept very busy throughout all this , with analysis showing that in total Messrs Gale and Gough signalled 83 fours , 35 sixes , four byes , 12 leg byes , 20 wides and eight no balls … we imagine they both had sore arms when they woke up the next morning !
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