The Cricket law body needs to respond to the controversy about the Bairstow dismissal. Something like this:
"It is not intended that there should be any gap between what is allowed in Cricket and what is deemed to be in the spirit of Cricket. It is a skill of the game for batters to not do stupid things when the ball is live, including handling the ball and wandering outside the crease. We encourage the fielding side to take advantage of such actions to dismiss the batter.
Since there seems to be some confusion about when the ball is live, we permit the organisers of particular matches to make the following arrangement: When the ball ceases to be live, the square leg umpire will say "end" and cross his arms across his chest.
To stop the blight of batters handling the ball we are considering changing the rule so that umpires will give batters out for doing this, even if there is no appeal.
We should also consider the question of short-pitched bowling aimed at the body, which was the origin of the first "spirit of cricket" controversy, and was used by both sides in the recent match. Unlike baseball, aiming at the body is a part of the game. Batters need to wear appropriate protection and learn the skills of avoiding being hit. We note that taking your eye off the ball while turning your back on it is the most dangerous action.
Cricket has rules made to discourage leg side bowling, including fielding restrictions and the formulation of the LBW law. The fielding restrictions also make it easier for batters to attack short-pitched bowling. Balls that are above the head of the batter when standing upright should always be called wide. We are considering making the leg-side wide rule more difficult for bowlers, in line with the rule that already applies in white ball cricket.
We are also considering a law which will allow teams to designate 1 or 2 players as specialist bowlers. All balls above shoulder high to those batters will be no-balls.
Fast short-pitched bowling is an exciting cricket tradition. It is not unduly dangerous on reasonably good wickets. We encourage umpires to use their powers to curtail matches on unsafe wickets. The main question to consider is whether the ball is sometimes risng sharply when pitched on a good length.
It is our strong intention to set out the rules of cricket in such a way that there is never again any suggestion that the application of the rules is inconsistent with the spirit of the game."
