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[Saba Sports News] Mitchell Starc, following Sachin Tendulkar’s earlier criticism, has called for a return to using a single ball in ODI cricket, instead of the current two-ball system. Starc, who has had a challenging World Cup, echoed Tendulkar’s concerns about the impact on reverse swing, a critical tool for fast bowlers in the death overs. He made these comments during a media interaction on November 13, discussing the difficulties fast bowlers face in modern cricket conditions.
Starc pointed out that with two new balls, reverse swing becomes rarer, affecting the bowlers’ ability to compete in a batter-dominated format. Despite his own success with both the new and old ball in ODIs, Starc has faced challenges in the current World Cup, struggling with early wickets and effective bowling during crucial phases.
“I still think it should be one ball not two…The ball stays harder for longer. As we’ve seen here, the grounds are quite small, wickets are flat. If anything in world cricket wickets have gotten flatter and I think if you look at some of that old footage when they bowled with one ball, reverse swing comes into it a lot more. That actually brings the bowlers back into the game, and I don’t think it’s any secret that one-day cricket and probably T20 cricket as well is a batter’s game and bowlers just have to hang on,” said Starc,
He also talked about the evolution of batting, with players increasingly targeting bowlers with aggressive shots in the latter part of their innings. This evolution, Starc mentioned, has forced bowlers to continually adapt their strategies. Despite these challenges, Starc remains confident in his bowling skills, particularly in executing yorkers.
Whether it changes or not or maybe it changes after I’m finished. But yeah, it definitely takes a little bit longer to find reverse swing. It’s not to say that it’s all gone. There’s certainly wickets or grounds that can create that reverse swing. I think just because of the two new balls at the start, I don’t think the balls swings any longer. They swing at the start and unless conditions suit, they don’t swing for very long at all. If anything they stay nicer for batsmen towards the end,” said Starc. “So, with that one ball obviously there’s a chance to reverse. I think the dew that we’ve seen at some of these grounds through the tournament as well. contributes to potentially the lack of reverse swing with how wet some of the balls are getting, but in my opinion, I think one day cricket should be one ball.”
Reflecting on his career and the current World Cup, Starc acknowledged that this might be his last World Cup, though he doesn’t foresee an immediate end to his ODI career. He emphasized his commitment to Test cricket as his top priority. This discussion comes amid debates on the balance between bat and ball in modern cricket, with Starc’s comments adding significant weight to the conversation.