Sport - Cricket

‘Innovative rules could boost T20’

Melbourne: Bowled over by Twenty20 cricket, former Australian coach John Buchanan thinks that innovative rules could further make the new format more exciting and popular.

Buchanan said the new version could serve as the vehicle for change, just as one-day cricket did in the late 1970s.

“It’s a revenue generator, and it’s bringing people to the game — whether they’re new people or not, I don’t know,” he said.

Buchanan sees a role for squads, with players running on and off as they do in America’s NFL. “It’s the reverse of baseball,” Buchanan was quoted as saying in Sydney Morning Herald.

“In baseball, the game’s dominated by pitchers and people still want to see that. In Twenty20 cricket, the game’s dominated by the bat. Do the administrators want a form of the game that’s dominated by one part? They might. But your rules and regulations will be geared towards that.

“Twenty20 cricket is going to bring innovation. Usually you’ve got 14 or 15 players. Well let’s play them all. Let’s have an interchange. Have your best fielding team on there, get your best bowling team on or best batting team” he said. — PTI

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