Former South Africa coach Darren Berry has suggested the introduction of playing of 12th man in Test cricket, reviving memories of the ‘Super Sub.’
‘Super Sub’ was a short-lived initiative in One-day international cricket that was scrapped in 2006, just nine months after its introduction.
Despite its lack of success, Berry, former Rajasthan Royals coach, has proposed the launch of a similar idea for the longer forms of the game.
According to Berry, the injection of a substitute player – the 12th man – at the completion of both teams’ first innings in first-class and Test cricket could add an exciting new element to the game.
“This concept could be trialled at Sheffield Shield level and could prove to be hugely beneficial for a team to interchange a fast bowler with a spin bowler as the pitch wears during a game,” wrote Berry, reported Cricket.com.au.
“It would add some unpredictability to Sheffield Shield and Test cricket plus create more opportunity for young spinners who rarely get exposed at domestic level in our country.
“Alternatively, an extra bowler could be injected at the expense of a batsman and vice versa.
“Teams don’t have to change their make up after the first innings, but this provides them the option to make a strategic change if they wish.”
Substitutes in red-ball cricket would not be expected to create the same issue that occurred in the Super Sub in the white ball game; that it unfairly favoured the team that won the toss.
The Super Sub was implemented by International Cricket Council in July 2005 in an effort to liven up ODI cricket, but was discarded by the governing body in March the following year.
“The intention … was to encourage teams to make greater use of all-rounders in the ODI game,” ICC General Manager-Cricket Dave Richardson said at the time.
“In practice, teams have elected to nominate a specialist player as the substitute and this is placing undue importance on winning the toss.
“There is no desire to create a situation where 12 players are used to do the job of 11 so we did not support the alternate view of allowing substitutes to be nominated after the toss.”
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