The Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association has taken steps to tighten the rules of school cricket regarding fast bowlers with the aim of producing more fast bowlers for Sri Lankan cricket. Accordingly, steps have been taken to impose a mandatory number of overs on fast bowlers in two-innings matches and one-day matches.
This rule is mandatory for under-19 matches, and in two-innings matches, 12 of the first 18 overs must be bowled by fast bowlers. In school one-day matches, 8 of the first 12 overs must be fast bowling, and 20 of the 50 overs in an innings must be fast bowling. This rule applies to all school cricket matches, and the match umpires are empowered to prevent spin bowlers from starting matches.
The Schools Cricket Association has also taken steps to inform all schools to comply with these orders.
Sri Lanka has seen a surge in spin bowlers in recent times, and the shortage of fast bowlers has also come to the attention of Sri Lanka Cricket. Accordingly, the Sri Lanka Cricket High Performance Centre, which prepares key performance indicators for cricketers, had forwarded several suggestions to the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association.
One of its main proposals was to tighten the rules of school cricket regarding fast bowlers. Accordingly, a specific number of overs should be assigned to fast bowlers at the start of each match and a certain percentage of the total overs in an innings should be mandatory for fast bowlers.
This new fast bowling law places a special responsibility on school cricket coaches, and it is mandatory to have at least two fast bowlers in the team. It is hoped that this will produce talented fast bowlers for the national level from the Sri Lankan school cricket field.
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