It will be cool to experiment with smaller ball: Australia’s Nicola Carey

Cricket Australia (CA) are coming up with new innovations to keep the fans interested as cricket prepares to return to Australia post the Coronavirus pandemic. Australian World Cup-winning all-rounder Nicola Carey has thrown her weight behind the decision to bring in smaller balls to help big hits in women’s cricket, especially during the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in 2021.

Women’s cricket already uses a ball slightly smaller and lighter in weight compared to the one used in men's cricket, and Carey is open to a further reduction if it aids in popularity of the game.

“I think it'd certainly be something pretty cool to experiment with and see if there's actually a bit more merit to it,” Nicola Carey was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“(Women's cricket) is in a pretty good spot at the moment, but I suppose there's always room for improvement. If people come up with cool ideas and they've got a bit of merit behind them and you've trialled them and they work, then why not?," she added.

“I think it's really cool that they’re talking about different things. Whether it comes into play or not is a different story. But it's good to see they're still thinking outside the box and trying to help the game be the best possible product it can be,” the 26-year-old from New South Wales said.

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine earlier this week agreed with Nicola Carey and also advocated the use of the smaller ball to make it easier for batters to hit it further.

Speaking at ICC’s ‘100% innovation’ webinar this week, Devine suggested a smaller and lighter ball could benefit both batters and bowlers.

“I reckon bowlers are going to be able to bowl the ball quicker, spinners are going to be able to turn the ball more,” Devine had said.

“Hopefully, the ball should fly a bit further as well, whereas you're still keeping the traditional length of the pitch. It's a very interesting one. If it's going to help the game flourish, I think: why not? Why would we not have a crack at it and see what happens? I think you've always got to have a bit of trial and error and see what works,” the Kiwi skipper said.

Nicola Carey happy with the amount of practice she gets

Nicola Carey has secured her place in Australia’s best XI last summer, playing all but two of their 19 games since last September and played a big role in World Cup win.

“You can't do much about having Ellyse Perry and Midge (Alyssa Healy) batting ahead of you in the order,” Nicola Carey said about batting lower down the order. Obviously I play a different role in the Aussie set-up than when I'm back in the domestic stuff. We've got a pretty ridiculous batting line-up for Australia so it's pretty hard to get up the order," Nicola Carey added.

"But I get all my loads in and game time out in the middle during the Big Bash and WNCL, so that holds you in good stead for when you go on tours. I feel fine in terms of how much batting I get in,” the Hobart Hurricanes all-rounder added.