I'm serious. About ball-tampering. The game is far too batsman-friendly these days. I really think that fast swing bowling late in the innings makes the game far more exciting. So I suggest that we had sunscreen, zinc cream, lollies, bottletops and sandpaper to the allowed list of things that can be applied to a cricket ball.
The other change to ODI's I would make is to reduce them to 40 overs a side. This way, you have 1-15 slog, 30-40 slog, and only 15 overs in the middle to see accumulation. An hour of slow cricket is acceptable. Twenty-five overs of it (Laxman had thirty-one scoring shots as singles in a row the other day) makes me fall asleep. Maybe that also has something to do with the time of day. But I think that something needs to be done about the middle overs, and the batsmen domination.
The Australian domestic one-dayers have fielding restrictions to 30 overs (three men outside the circle from 15-30). This is also an idea.
Re: Ball tampering:
The other change to ODI's I would make is to reduce them to 40 overs a side. This way, you have 1-15 slog, 30-40 slog, and only 15 overs in the middle to see accumulation. An hour of slow cricket is acceptable. Twenty-five overs of it (Laxman had thirty-one scoring shots as singles in a row the other day) makes me fall asleep. Maybe that also has something to do with the time of day. But I think that something needs to be done about the middle overs, and the batsmen domination.
The Australian domestic one-dayers have fielding restrictions to 30 overs (three men outside the circle from 15-30). This is also an idea.