Dear Editor,
The rules prohibiting no balls are designed primarily for the protection or safety, if you will, of batsmen. I say primarily, because the provision prohibiting the back foot from landing too wide does not seem to address safety issues. The infringement of the back foot rule, though, is rare. Since the requirement that the ball not be delivered from too close to the batsman, ie from behind the line specified, is almost as important to the batsman’s safety as is the requirement that the ball not be thrown above the batsman’s waist without hitting the ground, the penalty for repeated infringements of those rules should be more alike in their severity. As the law now stands if a bowler delivers 2 or 3 ‘beamers’ in one inning he can no longer bowl in that inning. I respectfully submit that the same or similar penalty should apply for breaching the line or perhaps 4 times in an inning. Not only will such a change provide more protection to batsmen, it would substantially reduce the absurdity of no-ball after no-ball that bedevils the game from a small number of undisciplined fast bowlers. At the same time the ‘beamer’ rule might be eliminated for slow bowling, since it does not constitute a risk to batsmen.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
