It's not possible to make a law preventing bowlers from bowling short at anyone - the only thing laws can make provision for is the Umpire to give a telling-off to a bowler who bowls short where he should not be.
Such a good point.
Yeah I understand you're talking about absolutely woeful tailenders, but if Roach had hit Ponting again, he could have done some serious damage. Didn't seem to bother one person.
Agreed, but it's also obvious which is the more likely too.
If I was captaining Fidel Edwards I'd be delighted to see the oppo bump a few down at him
If we're talking about 'likely', I'll argue that its very unlikely that tailenders nowadays are going to be seriously injured after a couple of overs of short bowling.
Think that would become apparent only on a case by case basis, which is why I want the umpires to be able to step in if things get out of hand. As far as I recall, the oft cited example of Walsh's 11 consecutive bouncers at the myopic and limited but brave Devon Malcolm at Sabina in 94 didn't result in serious injury, but it was still unedifying to watch. It was nothing more than an attempt to physically cow a bloke who, however brave he might be, just wasn't good enough to counter it. I just don't think that has any part in sport.
Have seen that posted before and it's among the finest sights in the game - and it was indeed the 1990 tour. Even Smith, who was of course no mean hooker and puller, found Bishop simply too quick and too well-angled in that spell to take him on. But he gutsed it out nonetheless.Talking about fast bowling anyone remember Walsh & Bishop trying kill Robin Smith
YouTube - Bishop and Walsh target Robin Smith
That must have been fromn the 1990 tour (the 1st one Sky broadcasted). I watched all of that series but can't seem to remember this spell for some reason
Exactly. Ntini and co. should have constantly bounced McGrath back in 2005 Boxing Day test to (a) put him on his back foot, (b) try and get his wicket, (c) keep Hussey off strike, and (d) rough him up a bit.
Not if it struck him on the neck and put him out of the Test you wouldn't.
Depends on the method, tbh. All sorts of nefarious ways in rugby used to bully opponents (the eye gouge probably the worst) that I wouldn't condone.
chalky said:Talking about fast bowling anyone remember Walsh & Bishop trying kill Robin Smith
YouTube - Bishop and Walsh target Robin Smith
That must have been fromn the 1990 tour (the 1st one Sky broadcasted). I watched all of that series but can't seem to remember this spell for some reason
It was stupid of Ponting to bat when he did because he was putting short-term over long-term; it was also rather questionable morally for West Indies' bowlers to bump him in my book. I actually said the same when Lou Vincent came out to bat under the floodlights at nine with a broken rib in 2001/02 when New Zealand were already leading by about 270 on a rapidly deteriorating deck and Hoggard and Flintoff bounced him - it was stupid for him to come out because he really didn't need to and every bit as poor form for England's bowlers to deliberately try to exacerbate an injury.
I don't think you can put a set number on it, which is why it should be at the umpires' discretion. Same principle with the boxing referee stepping in when a fighter is taking too much punishment. It'd be wrong to say "five/ten unaswered punches", but it should be obvious when a boxer is gone too.
To me that it utterly crazy, but I've gone into as much detail as possible as to why I think there is nothing wrong with it and I won't be able to change your mind.
Serious injuries are exceptionally rare - if they weren't the risks would quite properly be addressed by the lawmakers - on the other hand if you remove all risk the game becomes sterile - as for setting out to cause injury I'm not convinced, whatever Jeff Thomson said, or others have said about Sylvester Clarke/Charlie Griffith/Colin Croft etc that they or anybody else has actually been cricket's equivalent of Roy Keane