The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the governing body for Baseball, is in the process of introducing a new a Baseball concept named “Baseball5”. It is the shorter version of Baseball with few alterations made to the rules involving five players, whereas the regular format has nine players. It is played in a smaller area as it requires only 4 basses and a ball.
Major Highlights of “Baseball5” rules are:only a rubber ball is needed to play in any surface, unlike the regular pitch and ground arrangements. All games will consist of five innings, no pitcher needed, and hitting the ball will be done by hand. The distance between the bases is 13 metres (42.65 ft).
Speaking to the Daily News the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sri Lanka Baseball-Softball Association (SLABSA), Priyantha Ekanayake mentioned, “We had a zoom call with WBSC Commission Liaison of Baseball5, Valerio Cianfoni. The World Governing body is happy with Sri Lanka’s progress made in the last few years and they believe that the new concept the “Baseball5” will catch up in Sri Lanka rapidly.”
“This is going to be an ideal format to boost and popularise Baseball for our rural schools and mixed schools at a lower cost. This is something similar to Test Cricket and T20. However, the playing area and the number of players are different from the main format of the sport,” he added.
Baseball has taken the limelight in Sri Lanka as it has become one of the fastest-growing sports. After the National teams (men’s) triumph over high-ranked Pakistan last year at the Asian Championship, Sri Lanka’s world rankings shot up to 37th place from 41.
The SLABSA expects that the Sports Ministry will continue to give a helping hand like in the past to promote the game island-wide. Baseball is a sport that is similar to Cricket, and they are pretty confident that they can achieve greater heights while developing the game in the future.
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