BANGALORE: The International Cricket Council is all set to abolish the use of ‘runners’ in one-day internationals.But the decision has not gone down well with many players. If it is going to be implemented for the men’s game, the women’s game will also have to do without runners as both are now being administered by the ICC.“It’s like saying someone has leg-pain, so the leg should be amputated. I think a lot more deliberation is required before the implementation of the rule of abolishing ‘runners’. It’s a little too early for ICC to do so at the international stage,” said the legendary Shanta Rangaswami, one of India’s most celebrated woman cricketers.The ICC executive committee recommended a range of radical recommendations to the executive board for their approval in their recent meeting in Hong Kong and chief among them is to remove the use of runners in one-day international cricket, thus changing a fundamental law of the game that has existed for more than a century.Runners have been a source of disputes on the field. The dispute which triggered the debate was Andrew Strauss’ showdown with a cramping Graeme Smith in 2009.Strauss declined Graeme Smith’s request for a runner, after the South African claimed he had cramps when he was on 124 with his team needing 69 from 36 balls to stay in the match. The ICC backed Strauss’s decision, saying cramps were a sideeffect of fatigue rather than an injury in itself.But, do few incidences like these call for drastic moves like altogether abolishing the runners? “ICC should make the cricket playing countries implement the rule at the domestic level on an experimental basis first and then bring it on to the international level. When a batsman is genuinely injured, runners are needed. I think too much generalisation has been done on the basis of a few disputes”, added Shanta, the former India captain.The ICC chief Haroon Lorgat has defended the governing body’s decision to abolish “runners” in One-Day International matches, suggesting batsmen were using them to cheat.The recommendation has attracted criticism from the experts, players and fans, alike. In the likelihood that the rule is implemented, its still not clear what will be done when a batsman is suffering from an onfiled injury or even in the case of cramps.Whether the batsman in question has to retire hurt when injured or could be allowed to return after treatment, doubts like these and more shall only be cleared when ICC comes out with more clarifications and justifications.“Its a big decision which has been in existence for a very long time. The changes are going to drastically affect play. Such a big decision should not be taken in a hurry,” said Shanta.
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