In the wake of the ball-tampering scandal featuring the Australian cricket team, former pacer and coach Geoff Lawson called for the International Cricket Council to put the bats under the microscope too.
Lawson, who was in Mumbai recently, questioned if there was system in place to check if the batsmen were flouting the rules. In late 2017, ICC announced that thickness of the edges can’t be more than 40 mm and that the overall depth can be as long as 67 mm. They had also stated that the umpires would be handed a bat gauge through which they can check if a bat was meeting the permissible requirements.
“The ICC checks for ball-tampering. But is there a rule in place to check bats, see if sizes, weights, thickness and other factors are being adhered to? Is there a code in place? Worse, they’re now scurrying to put a code in place for what constitutes player behaviour. That shows a lot of work hasn’t been done,”
Lawson also jumped to the defence of former Australia skipper Steve Smith, who, along with teammates David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were handed one-year bans following the scandal in South Africa. “He’s very shy and naive. He’s a nice guy. It’s that thing, about winning at all costs [about what made the team indulge in ball tampering]. At what cost?”