Australia's World Cup star Nicola Carey has backed up the growing calls for trying out a smaller ball in women's cricket in order to produce more entertaining style of play.
"I think it would certainly be something pretty cool to experiment with and see if there's actually a bit more merit to it. Women's cricket is in a pretty good spot at the moment, but I suppose there's always room for improvement. If people come up with cool ideas and they've got a bit of merit behind them and you've trialled them and they work, then why not," cricket.com.au quoted Carey as saying.
"I think it's really cool that they're talking about different things. Whether it comes into play or not is a different story. But it's good to see they're still thinking outside the box and trying to help the game be the best possible product it can be," she added.
Women's cricketers already use a ball that is slightly smaller and lighter compared to the one used in men's cricket.
Earlier this week, New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine also suggested that a smaller ball can be tried to make it easier for the batters to hit big shots and produce more entertaining play.
Devine, who was the top run-getter for New Zealand at this year's ICC Women's T20 World Cup, was in support of experimenting and felt the introduction of a smaller ball could change the dynamics of the women's game.
"I think if we are stuck with traditional formats, we'd be missing out on a lot of new players, new kids and new athletes to the game. So, I think it is really an exciting idea to say that we might be able to encourage people along that make it tailored towards the female side of things," ICC's official website quoted Devine as saying.
"It's always good to have a little trial and error and see what works. I am probably a big fan of looking at a smaller ball, but keeping the pitch the same size, where I think pacers are going to be able to bowl quicker, spinners are going be able to turn the ball more. Hopefully, the ball should fly a bit further as well whereas still keeping the traditional length of the pitch," she said.
Earlier this week, India's Jemimah Rodrigues had another idea in order to make women's cricket more entertaining as she suggested introducing a shorter pitch for the women's game.
"I mean, we can also be open to a shorter pitch, try it out. If that is going to help the game improve and take it to the next level, then why not? You know, kind of get a thought to it, think about it. Because at the end of it, we want to promote the game. We want to get more people to watch the game and more people to even join the game. So, yeah, I think it is a good idea. I think, you know, you can be open to it," Rodrigues said.
50-over Women's World Cup is slated to be played in New Zealand next year, so it would be interesting to see whether these suggestions are used by the ICC.
( With inputs from ANI )
