SYDNEY: England skipper Eoin Morgan has slammed as ‘ridiculous’ plans to restrict the size of cricket bats to try and stem the flow of runs in the one-day game after the World Cup.

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief David Richardson said last week the global governing body would consider restricting the depth of bats, saying a larger ‘sweet spot’ was making run-scoring easier.

England batsman Morgan could not have been clearer in his opposition and posited the view that recent rule changes had, if anything, shifted the balance towards the bowling team.

“I think it’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” Morgan, speaking in Sydney ahead of two World Cup warm-up games against the West Indies starting on Monday, said on Saturday. “The fact that you can concentrate on the bat size, where the rule changes have been made so that you bowl with two new balls.

“The ball is never any older than 25 overs and you have an extra man in the circle. That’s a point in itself. I’ve not come across a bat yet where I’ve said ‘this is ridiculous’.”

South Africa captain A.B. de Villiers hit a one-day century off just 31 balls against West Indies last month, pummelling 16 sixes in his 44-ball innings of 149.

Morgan said he was confident England could perform against an in-form Australia in the World Cup next Saturday.

Australia sealed a crushing 112-run victory over England in the final of the ODI tri-series which included with India, but Morgan’s men had two wins against India and a close-run game against Australia earlier in the series.

“The refocus has to be us as a side,” Morgan said. “If we front up and play as well as we can then of course we can beat Australia.

“They’ve had the momentum throughout the summer but we’ve had guys performing consistently and this is what we’re striving to do.”

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2015

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