Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris bats for completely banning switch hit

Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said that switch hits shall be banned completely. Styris made the comment keeping in mind Ravichandran Ashwin’s comments on giving out a batter LBW if he plays a switch hit.

The Kiwi made some arguments against switch hit and said that while Ashwin made correct points, he did not like the solutions given by the Indian spinner.

“Well, I sort of gotta go back half a step here. I loved a lot of the points that Ashwin made. I completely disagreed with all his solutions. I actually think even though we just had some fun with the switch hit, I think the switch hit should be banned completely,” Styris said speaking exclusively on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’

Styris argued that the fielding side is already restricted with the field setting rules. “There are rules for captains and bowlers in terms of where their fieldsmen [fielders] can be, how many behind point, how many on the leg side, all of these things.”

With the batters not having to face any restrictions, they have an undue advantage.

“So, I don't think a batsman [batter] should be able to change his hands over and I don't believe he should be able to change his feet. You can play the reverse sweep or the reverse hit if you like but I don't like this,” Styris added.

Styris continued with the example of Kevin Pietersen who invented the switch hit. He also said that if switch hits are disallowed, the bowling side will not have to worry about LBW either. “In terms of the hands, Kevin Pietersen has completely flipped around as a lefthander. If you take away the switch hit, but allow all the reverse sweeps and reverse hits, then I think you don't have to worry about the LBW law that Ashwin is talking about. And it allows a fair contest between the bowler and the batsman [batter] as well.”

Ashwin has time and again advocated a fair contest between batters and bowlers over different issues. He was the one who re-ignited the Mankading debate after running out Jos Buttler during the 2019 IPL.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin had said that batters should be adjudged leg before wicket even if the ball is pitched outside leg stump if they miss out on an attempted switch hit. “Let batters play the switch hit, but give us LBW when they miss. How can you say it is not LBW when the batter turns? If they start giving that out in all formats of the game, some parity could be retained between bowling and batting.”

It will be worthwhile to see if ICC or the MCC considers the debate and makes any amendments to the existing law.

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