CRICKET MUDDLE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20080, 28 October 1939, Page 9

CRICKET MUDDLE

NEW LEG-BEFORE RULE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENT An unsatisfactory feature of the present Australian cricket season, states a Melbourne writer, is that in two States —Victoria and South Australia—the new leg-before-wicket rule is being applied to deliveries on the legside of the wicket, while New South Wales and Queensland have refused to adopt it. and will continue to apply it only to the off side.

Here is another instance emphasising tire necessity for one governingbody to decide what shall be clone in regard to changes in the rules of the game. That body, of course, is the Board of'Control. It is necessary that there should be uniformity in the rules and when we find State associations making their own rules there is sure to be conflict and muddle. Personally I am strongly against the application of the rule to the leg side, but if it is to be tried it should be tried by all. It is not a good thing to have two sets of rules in operation, for it leads only to confusion. The change applies only to club cricket in Victoria and South Australia, but it may affect the batsmen of these States when they face New South Wales and Queensland in the Sheffield Shield games, because it means that they will have to change their style of play.