Former Australia spinner Shane Warne has suggested introducing weighted balls when cricket resumes to aid swing bowlers and do away with the use of spit and sweat to shine the ball.
A proposal is being put forward in English cricket for wax to be used for that purpose, with health grounds leading to a halt on saliva and sweat being used.
But Warne told Sky Sports: “Why can’t the ball be weighted on one side, so it always swings? It would be like a taped tennis ball or like with lawn bowls.
“I’m not sure you’d want it to hoop around corners like Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis], but it could swing and give the seamer something on flat wickets when it’s hot and the pitch is at its flattest on day two, day three.
“And you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone tampering with it with bottle tops, sandpaper or whatever. It would be a good competition between bat and ball.”
Warne said compared to the bat, the cricket ball has not really evolved over the years. “If anything, it has got worse,” he said.
