Bouncer rule curtailed success of black teams: Darren Sammy
What's the story
All-rounder Darren Sammy claimed the rule to limit bouncers per over, plummeted the dominance of West Indian fast bowlers.
The former West Indian skipper described how the likes of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee were ignored when they used bouncers as their lethal weapon.
Sammy has been vocal about the racism row since the killing of George Floyd.
Here is more.
Bouncers
Sammy opens up on the bouncer rule
Sammy stated the rules were introduced to bring down the legacy of Caribbean fast bowlers.
"Looking at the Fire in Babylon, looking at when (Jeff) Thomson and (Dennis) Lillee and all these guys were bowling quick and hurting people. Then I watch a black team becoming so dominant and then you see the bouncer rule start to come in," he said.
Quote
'They were trying to limit success of black teams'
"All these things start to come in and I take it as this is just trying to limit the success a black team could have. I might be wrong but that's how I see it. And the system should not allow that," he added.
Rule
The bouncer rule came into effect in 1991
Unlike today, there was no bar on the number of bouncers a bowler can bowl in an over.
This often led to the infamous bodyline bowling in the two formats (Test and ODI cricket).
As a result, the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1991, introduced a "one bouncer per batsman, per over" rule in a bid rule out intimidation.
Change
ICC has tweaked the bouncer rule over the years
In 1994, ICC changed the rule to two bouncers per over.
Seven years later, the global cricket body decided to allow only one bouncer per over in One-Day Internationals.
The number of bouncers in the format were yet again increased to two in 2012.
However, in a game of T20, a bowler can still bowl only one bouncer per over.
Misconception
'It's all part of the game'
During the 1980s, the West Indian pace quartet received backlash for targeting the batsmen with ferocious bouncers.
It was believed that Caribbean fast bowlers deliberately used to intimidate the batsmen.
"There is a misconception that we West Indian fast bowlers are happy to knock batsmen out rather than get them out but that's not true," West Indian legend Curtly Ambrose wrote in his autobiography.