Hong Kong: ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat on Thursday defended scrapping the provision of runners in international cricket, saying batsmen were not using the system in the right spirit.
“It’s been considered by the cricket committee… and there has been a strong feeling that runners were used not in the right spirit,” Lorgat told reporters here.
“It’s quite a difficult one for umpires to determine whether there has been a real injury to batters or whether it was a tactical use of runners,” he added.
Runners were abolished by the ICC Executive Board during its five-day annual conference which concluded here today.
“If a bowler gets injured you can’t continue bowling for the rest of the day and the feeling was that it would be better to not allow the use of runners because there has been abuse in the past,” Lorgat said.
The ICC’s decision was criticised by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who said if the batsmen were to be denied runners, even bowlers should not be allowed water on the boundary.
He said the ICC should also do away with substitute fielders so that the batting side is not the only one affected.
Meanwhile, The ICC has launched a probe into the allegations that tickets were black-marketed during the 2011 World Cup, co hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
“Although the event was universally acclaimed as a success and one of the best cricket events in history, the report highlighted certain shortcomings around ticketing and stadia construction,” the ICC said in a statement. (PTI)
