ICC Cricket Committee looking to give leeway to bowlers on wides: Shaun Pollock
Durban, Jan 11: South African legend Shaun Pollock says the ICC Cricket Committee is working towards giving bowlers “bit more leeway on wides” as the current rule is “very strict on them”, particularly when batters make last minute movement.
Across ODIs and T20Is, batters make late movements across the crease to disturb bowlers’ line and lengths and they end up giving wides.
“I'm working on something. I’m obviously part of the ICC Cricket Committee and we're looking to come up with a bit more leeway for the bowlers on wides. I think it's very strict on them,” Pollock told PTI on the sidelines of SA20.
“If a batter jumps across (at the) last minute, it doesn't really work out for me. I think a bowler, at the start of his run-up, needs to know where he can bowl it.
“The current rule tends to suggest that if he moves and it's that point of delivery where the batter is, and that's according to where the wide will be called, I want a little bit of a change,” added Pollock.
The 51-year-old said bowlers must know where they have to bowl while on top of their run-up.
“I want them to know exactly when they're running up why or how. How can a bowler be expected to change his game plan at the last second when he's bowling? He needs to have a clear idea where he can go,” he said.
“So it's in the pipeline, we're all discussing. We need to give a little bit back to the bowlers,” he added.
Pollock said the SA20 has gone from “strength to strength” like IPL has over the years.
“It's just gone from strength to strength. Some of the activities at the ground as well, the Catch 2 Million competition this year has been added,” he said.
“I know the young kids are taught, ‘you've got to get to the ground’, because we need some money these days with the economy the way it is. But it's definitely gone from strength to strength.
“South African cricket needed this injection — there’s no doubt about it. They needed something to create a bit of unbelievable interest in the game,” he said.
The former all-rounder said South Africa should look to leverage on their players’ experience in the subcontinent conditions during the upcoming Champions Trophy
“You’ve got basically the similar players that were at that (ODI) World Cup (2023) where we got to the semifinal and lost to Australia,” he said.
“We've got a lot of IPL stars who play for South Africa. In those situations, everything looks good. The amount of IPL players, people like Klaasens, Millers, even de Kocks, all those guys who spend so much time over there, getting an understanding for conditions, that can only help South Africa.
“They (have) got the ICC Test Championship now as well so it's been some good stuff and, hopefully, some younger individuals come up. We've seen it starting to develop in the Test arena,” he added.
Pollock said while it is understandable that T20 leagues around the world are “moneymakers”, he would prefer players not turning down the national duties for franchise cricket.
“There's always cricketers (available) so you're going to be able to create leagues. It's the moneymaker for a lot of the cricket boards around the world,” he said.
“You can understand why these leagues are presenting themselves. If you can find windows for them, that's fine. But my biggest concern is where you've got international players who go away and play in these leagues and don't end up playing for their international teams.”
However, Pollock said he will not grudge players for making that choice.
“Ideally, I would prefer that they make themselves available for their own international countries as often as possible. But you do understand it's an earning capacity.
“It's a certain time where they can make money for the rest of their lives and you can't begrudge them on that,” he signed off.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
