'Bowlers have been excluded from the game'

'It's not a contest any more. That's why IPL has gone for a six'

'We need to get the bowlers back in the game'

Former Australia fast bowler Geoff Lawson, on Monday, expressed anguish at the hapless lot of the bowlers in T20 cricket around the world, especially in the Indian Premier League, and said it was imperative to get them back into the game to render it more balanced.

"Bowlers have been excluded from the game, it's ridiculous. It's not a contest any more. That's why IPL has gone for a six. We need to get the bowlers back in the game."

"We need to have a contest," said Lawson here after delivering the '2nd Rajsingh Dungarpur Spirit of Cricket' lecture at the Cricket Club of India.

Explaining further the 60-year-old former national coach of Pakistan said, "The new bats are this big (indicating with hand) on the edges. We need to make the wide zones wider."

Lawson, who grabbed 180 wickets in 46 Tests in the 1980s, felt that the Australian T20 league, Big Bash, gave a little more scope to the bowlers to succeed.

"In Big bash the bowlers have a bit more chance because of bouncier wickets and bigger boundaries. (But) It's (T20) not cricket, it's just batting."

Lawson is assistant coach of one of the teams in the T20 league back home.

He was of the opinion that even if Cricket Australia reduced the tenure of the one-year ban imposed by Cricket Australia on former captain Steve Smith for his role in the ball tampering incident in South Africa, the disgraced player would like to serve it out to its entirety.

"CA has decided on the ban and they will stick to it. Even if they change it, I don't think he (Smith) will change. He said - I deserved it, let's move on in 12 months time."

"He's very shy naive sort, a nice guy. He wants just to play cricket and does not like the media. This guy Steve is taking his medicine."

"Even Australia (as a whole) - they should take the blame. They have allowed the stuff to go on and on. They could have dealt with it but didn't as they wanted to win; winning is that important. As (Don) Bradman said in his famous para - You can be very competitive, but modest too".

Lawson also felt that a lot of good is bound to come out in the aftermath of the sordid ball tampering saga.

"The end result of all this will be positive for Australia and everybody's cricket. As New Zealand (team) has done - let us stop yelling and screaming on the field and just play the game."