Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has responded to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald advocating the ban of bouncers.
Arthur, who has also enjoyed head coaching stints with South Africa, Australia and Pakistan, took to Twitter to voice his disapproval of the idea suggested in the article, tweeting: “Just read an article in the @smh on cricket banning the bouncer!! Just when I thought we were getting to the end of the year 2020 it gets crazier.”
The article, penned by Australian author and journalist Malcolm Knox, pointed to the recent concussions suffered by young Australian batting talent Will Pucovski, who recently suffered the ninth concussion of his career at the age of just 22. Knox admitted that cricket’s spectacle would be worse off without the bouncer but argued its removal was a necessary move for the game to take.
Knox wrote: “It will hurt cricket to lose the bouncer, but the bouncer is hurting cricket more. Twenty years from now, we will be wondering how the practice of aiming a projectile at a player’s head was allowed to go on so long.”
Knox also pointed to a recent study that found that a concussion took place once in every four men’s first-class games. He ended his piece by writing: “Bowlers will need other rule changes to compensate them for losing this element of threat. But the game will adapt. What it will not be able to survive is the continued assault on its players’ brains.”
Just read an article in the @smh on cricket banning the bouncer!!
Just when I thought we were getting to the end of the year 2020 it gets crazier 🤣— Mickey Arthur (@Mickeyarthurcr1) December 14, 2020
