MCC committee demands limit on bat sizes

South African cricket great Barry Richards compares a bat he used in 1970, left, with a bat of David Warner's. photo / Getty

A change in cricket bat sizes could be closer than we think.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) World Cricket Committee met at Lord's on Monday and Tuesday and called for bat sizes to be limited, as the "balance between bat and ball...has tilted too far in the batsman's favour".

The Committee also said that laws should be amended to introduce limitations to bat edges, depths and weights.

"One proposal would be for the maximum thickness of the edge to be between 35mm and 40mm, and the overall depth of the bat to be between 60mm and 65mm. (Some bats in current use have edges of 55mm and can be up to 80mm deep)" the Committee said.

The debate on bat-size regulation has gained some fresh momentum in recent weeks with Ricky Ponting, Ian Chappell and Josh Hazlewood all calling for some form of limit.

Meanwhile, David Warner, who carries one of the largest bats in the game, insisted that an innovative bat was a credit to its maker.

The MCC committee, who has Ponting as one of its members, agrees with the former Australian captain and even added that bigger bats can be a safety concern.

"The overwhelming (but not unanimous) view of the committee was that it has become too easy for batsmen to clear the boundary in all forms of cricket, even with mis-timed shots," it said.

"Furthermore, it was felt that there is a clear safety concern for close fielders, bowlers and umpires, whilst the recreational game is also suffering, as balls are flying into nearby residential properties with increasing frequency, thus threatening the existence of some smaller cricket clubs.

"The time has come to restrict the size of bat edges and the overall width of bats," Mike Brearley, the former England captain who heads the committee, told Wisden India after the meeting was over.

"It was pointed out to us that, in 1905, the width of bats was 16mm and that, by 1980, it had increased to 18mm. It is now an average, in professional cricket, of 35-40mm and sometimes up to 60mm. That shows how fast the change has been."

Rodney Marsh, Brearley's fellow committee member and the head of Australia's selection panel, said, "The one thing we don't want to see is batsmen unable to hit fours and sixes. That's so far from what will happen. But when you see a guy try to hit the ball through midwicket and it flies for six over cover, you know something is wrong."

The committee suggested that the amended law should be included as part of a revamped Laws of Cricket and be scheduled for introduction in October 2017, pending further discussion with other stakeholders.

The committee is an independent body chaired by Mike Brearley, the former England captain, and includes the likes of Ponting, Sourav Ganguly, Rameez Raja and Charlotte Edwards.