International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive David Richardson revealed that a clampdown down on bouncers is unlikely despite the passing of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes last Thursday.
The cricket world was in shock after Hughes passed away on Thursday last week, two days after being struck on the neck by a short-pitched ball in a domestic fixture.
Richardson said that the ICC needs to try and keep their perspective, in light of moving further to restrict the use of the bouncer. He said that it's a bit early to determine, but his initial reaction is that that's unlikely, Sport24 reported.
Richardson also said that people have died by being struck on the heart before, adding that he doesn't think cricket needs to over-react, but do what they could.
Current regulations permit two bouncers per over in Test matches and ODIs and one per over in Twenty20 cricket.
Hughes was wearing a helmet when he was struck, but the ball delivered by Sean Abbott hit him on back of the neck, just underneath the headguard.
Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist said that bouncers were all part of the game but that modifications could be made to helmets. He said that he guesses they could extend the helmet a little bit further down the back of the neck.
ICC teams up with SAP to bring fans closer to game
Meanwhile, the ICC has announced an innovative new partnership with SAP SE, a worldwide leader in enterprise application software services, as its exclusive Analytics and Cloud Partner for the Cricket World Cup 2015.
The partnership, which starts immediately and runs through to the end of the tournament, would see SAP utilize its HANA platform to power numerous live match experiences across the ICC's network of websites, to enhance the experience for fans and media with real-time data, statistics and performance analysis that would help them get closer to the action and tell more insightful and informed stories.
In addition, SAP would also provision cloud-based services to host the ICC's historical ICC Cricket World Cup statistics database, incorporating match data for its flagship ODI event. This data would be made publicly available over the coming months, offering fans a multitude of ways to analyse previous team and player performances.
Commenting on the announcement, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said that SAP is changing the way sports fans interact with data and information, adding that in a sport such as cricket where there is a healthy appetite for information and statistics, especially across digital platforms, the board is delighted that SAP's powerful technology would bring the fans closer to the game.
Image: ICC chief executive David Richardson
Photo: Getty Images
