Version2 cricket, designed by Canute Parkes Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter
If one entrepuneral Jamaican has his way, the game of cricket will be more intriguing.
Canute Parkes, an ardent cricket fan and traffic Superintendent at the Jamaica Urban Transit Company has invented a revised form of cricket dubbed Version 2 Cricket, which he says is the better way to play cricket.
Under this proposed new version of the game, Parkes' modification to the current game will see four adjustments to cricket in its present form.
The first of these features is called The Adjustable Penalty System (TAPS). Under this system, if a team fails to accumulate a required number of runs per over it will be penalised.
For example, if the West Indies are playing India in a game and TAPS is set at six runs per over and the West Indies score only two, they will be deducted four penalty runs.
And to minimise negative play, Parkes' second modification is called The Technical Dismissal (TTD). A batsman will be given out in this way if his side has been penalised and does not have enough runs to pay the penalty. The last batsman to face the bowler and fails to take his team out of trouble pays the penalty with his wicket.
The third feature called The Mandatory Declaration System (TMDS) forces a team to declare their innings close after a set number of overs. This is applicable only in the two innings game.
Canute Parkes - Contributed
Parkes has said this is to limit stalemates in games. He proposes that no team be allowed to bat more than 120 overs.
And unlike the way the game is played now where the second new ball is available after 75 overs, Version 2 Cricket would now be due after 75 overs, but it cannot be used for more than 45 overs in the restricted 120 overs game.
Version 2's fourth feature is The Twelfth Man Freedom (TTMF) which would allow the 12th-man to replace any player who is injured during the course of the game and play any role.
The innovator is still planning the first demonstration for Version 2 Cricket.
Parkes concedes that many persons may not like his ideas, which he says are worth US$5 million, but notes that it is a way of taking cricket out of the hands of the captains and forcing teams to play to the spectators' delight.
