Rule change brings more late swing to one-day cricket

A change to one-day international cricket’s ball rules is helping bowlers find more late movement, with the effect already visible in scoring and bowling figures ahead of next year’s World Cup, BBC Sport reports. The impact varies between countries, and the data from South Africa — where most of the tournament is due to be played — remain limited. [1]

Since July 2025, captains have been able to choose which of the two white balls used in an innings will be used for its final 16 overs. The selected ball can now become older and rougher, conditions that can help it swing in the opposite direction to conventional swing.

Across the matches analysed, half of pace bowlers’ full deliveries in the final 10 overs swung by more than one degree after the change, compared with 35% in the preceding 18 months. Pace bowlers’ economy rate in the final five overs fell from 8.40 to 7.95 runs per over, while their average fell from 19.2 to 18.3 runs per wicket, according to the BBC’s analysis. [1]

The change has not produced the same results for every team. England’s death-overs bowling average fell from 36.76 to 20.91, and its economy rate from 9.78 to 7.53. But the BBC notes that England’s one-day cricket has also improved this year, so the figures cannot show how much of that change is due to the rule. England’s batting run rate in the death overs rose over the same comparison, from 8.07 to 9.16. [1]

Sri Lanka used fuller bowling to help secure a 16-run win over England at Headingley, sending 69% of its deliveries six metres from the stumps or closer. West Indies had the sharpest fall among the listed teams in death-overs scoring, down 2.39 runs per over. [1]

The rule’s effects could matter for the World Cup, but conditions differ by venue. The BBC reports that late swing has increased most in England, by 63%, and by 33% in Bangladesh. In South Africa, where most of next year’s tournament is scheduled, only three one-day internationals had been played since the rule change at the time of the analysis, making its likely impact there difficult to assess. [1]