The leg-bye law should be there as well. It is one of the game’s more ludicrous regulations. What could be the justification for penalizing the bowler and the fielding side when they have scored a moral victory over the batter by striking his person while he attempted to play a shot or take evasive action. It is unfair and law 26, the portion that deals with leg-byes, should be repealed.
Perhaps the nightwatchman tactic should be a thing of the past. Why was it ever a good idea to send in the tailender to protect the recognized batter with close-of-play approaching? With opposition bowlers going full tilt, knowing they’ll be putting their feet up soon, who is more likely to survive?
There is one story I heard that goes something like this: Lawrence Rowe was in his heyday and playing a game for Jamaica – or the West Indies, I forget which – when he got out late one evening as the light faded close to stumps. His captain, in seeking to protect the top order player who was supposed to follow Rowe, asked a tailender to go in as nightwatchman. “Well skip,” he retorted, “if the greatest batsman in the world can’t see it then how am I going to see it?”
https://garfieldrobinson1.substack.com/p/laid-to-rest