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Shootout at the Dhaka corral

The lottery method of match-resolution enters cricket with the Wills International knockout tournament in Bangladesh, slated to begin this weekend.

"Bowl outs", thus, will determine the results of those games in which rain and resulting ground conditions make play impossible.

The ICC first toyed with the idea of relaxing rules, to the extent that whereas a minimum of 25 overs have to be faced by the side batting second to constitute a match, that figure could be reduced to ten overs.

However, that form of lottery -- and no one can deny that a ten-overs innings is nothing but a game of slog or miss -- has been shelved, in favour of the even more bizarre 'bowl out'.

As per this format, in the event umpires are forced to call off play in any game of the forthcoming tournament, five bowlers of each side will be picked for the 'bowl out'.

Each bowler will bowl one ball, using his normal action and run up, at a set of stumps. Whichever side scores more direct hits on the stumps will be declared the winner.

In the event of a tie after both sets of bowlers have done their stuff, 'sudden death' rules will come into play. Here, one bowler from team A gets a chance, then one from team B, and the two teams alternate till one team hits the wicket and the other does not.

There will be no batsmen present before the stumps. A wicketkeeper will be stationed behind the wickets, but this is merely to gather the balls that miss the stumps, in order to speed up the process.

Each team will be expected to provide, to the umpires for that particular game, the list of five bowlers it will use in the event the game goes down to the shoot-out stage.

Event manager and former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal, in discussions with the match referees and international umpires, will decide the exact modalities of conducting the 'bowl out'.

All nine participating nations have been duly informed about the novel method of ensuring a result in a tournament that has little or no reserve time for rain-ruined games. It is thus expected that the nine teams will have factored the 'bowl out' into their plans, and will have shortlisted the bowlers they will use and given them practise in accuracy.

Agencies