I also believe the ICC needs to take a very firm view on switch-hitting. When the MCC, the guardians of the law and the spirit of the game (and surely that has to be wrong—it has to be the ICC, not the MCC), say it is okay for Kevin Pietersen to change his grip, and effectively become a left hander, they are letting the bowler down. And lest we forget, for we do so too often, the bowler is an equal shareholder in the game of cricket. At the heart of our game lies the contest between bat and ball and when that is imperiled, the game is imperiled.

There are rules to bowling and batting. When the bowler delivers a ball he is presenting the batsman with a challenge. The basis of this challenge, which can never change, is the line and length he has chosen and the field he has set. These are the cards he holds. The batsman now has to respond to this challenge by offering a shot. If the field is moved in the process of the ball reaching the batsman, it is unfair on him because the goalposts are being moved, the challenge is being amended, without him being aware of it. That is why it is against the spirit of the game to do it. So, just as the batsman enjoys the security of a fixed challenge, so must the bowler. If the batsman alters the foundation on which the challenge has been presented to him, he is wrong and he must be stopped.

... contd.