Former England captain Michael Vaughan
Injury replacements should be permitted in Test cricket in the first innings of the game. There should be an independent doctor on site. If the doctor deems a player unable to carry on playing, you should be allowed a sub.
It should only be in the first innings. If you allow it to go into the second innings, there could be a little bit of skullduggery. If there’s a genuine injury in the first innings, it affects the game and the entertainment, which fans pay money to watch. The first innings is a good cut-off to make it fair.
BBC chief cricket commentator and former England bowler Jonathan Agnew
I have seen a number of Tests ruined because a team is a player down. How do you prove it? It’s another example of where there could be argument. It is something that is so difficult to prove.
Common sense says yes, of course, but you need a satisfactory way of showing beyond doubt that the player is genuinely injured. I think that would be open to all sorts of arguments.
Former England off-spinner Vic Marks
It’s well worth considering. It would take a bit of administrating, just to make sure the injury is absolutely genuine. You wouldn’t want to see anyone have the opportunity to fake injuries in order to change the nature of a team because of conditions or lack of form.
We had it in rugby where fake blood was spilt, so we want to avoid that. You need that proviso to make sure the system isn’t abused, but it is something that should be examined.
Former Zimbabwe seamer Henry Olonga
I’m open to the idea of substitutes, perhaps with a limited number, but not necessarily like-for-like and not only restricted to injuries. If you want to grow the game globally, then make it more like other sports where subs are allowed.
Think of football, tactically if a game is going in a certain way, substitutes can be used to tweak the direction. If a fast bowler is going for a few runs, why not replace them with a spinner? I don’t think it will be a popular opinion, but I am sticking to it.
TMS commentator Alison Mitchell
Yes, it should be looked into, but someone has to come up with a system where the system cannot be abused. We already have like-for-like substitutes if a player is concussed, so surely it should be brought in for other injuries.
Otherwise, you can end up with the situation like we may have with Zimbabwe in this Test. Then it just makes it a one-sided contest. If an injured player can’t take any further part in a match, we have to find a way of keeping the contest going.
