KEY POINTS:
Except to see fielding captains slipping miniature crystal balls into their back pockets in future one-day internationals.
The International Cricket Council has made a significant adjustment which will have batsmen grinning and bowlers glowering.
Starting with New Zealand's opening ODI against Bangladesh next Thursday, a change to the rules surrounding powerplays (the one when the umpire gestures an "I'll have a large super supreme thanks" signal to the scorers) will turn captains into gamblers, trying to foresee how innings might unfold.
Until now, the fielding team has been able to call the tune on when to use the second and third of the three five-over blocks during which they can have no more than three players outside the 30-year circle.
Now the batting team will be entitled to choose when either the second or third powerplay can be taken. The first is for the first five overs of the innings.
So how critical might this be?
Consider two scenarios: 1: Your openers have made a flyer in the first five overs. The fielding captain might want to drop more players deep for the sixth over onwards to stem the runs. The batting side can exercise their option to keep the field in, and potentially pile on the runs.
2: Late in the innings, when the hitters are breaking loose, the batting skipper could add to their problems by calling his powerplay, thus turning, say, 12 runs an over from overs 45 to 50 to perhaps 20, with the fielding captain helpless.
It might also kill off potentially dramatic conclusions. Chasing 50 in the last five overs with, say, four wickets standing could be a cliffhanger.
Forcing the fielding team to have only three players outside the circle, freeing vast chunks of outfield unprotected, could turn a tricky pursuit into a doddle.
Traditionally down the years most officials have been former batsmen. Bowlers will mumble darkly over this latest rule tweak.
