That is why a right-handed batsman must remain a right-handed batsman. If he becomes a left-handed batsman after the ball has been delivered, he is conning the bowler and because the bowler delivers his cards first, he has no comeback. That is unfair and undermines the very foundation of cricket, which is a fair contest between bowler and batsman given identical conditions for both. Indeed, I will go so far as to say it is immoral. Admittedly, it requires an extraordinary level of skill to switch hands in such a short while and still hit the ball for six, but then extraordinary skill doesn’t make things lawful. We would have to legalise pickpocketing otherwise.

To allow switch-hitting, we must allow the fielders to change positions after the ball has been bowled, allow the bowler to go over or round the wicket and to bowl right- or left-handed without informing the umpire or the batsman. This list could get longer. The easier, simpler and more honourable way is to preserve the sanctity of the challenge; the bowler sets his field and chooses line and length, the batsman responds and nothing changes in between.