SYDNEY, Oct 5: Australia captain Mark Taylor and vice-captain Steve Waugh gave a cautious stamp of approval to several experimental changes to the laws of limited-overs cricket which were tried out in a domestic one-day match today.Waugh, in particular, made the most of the revolutionary laws to help New South Wales compile a record total of 319 for seven from their 50 overs against South Australia in a state representative match at North Sydney Oval.Waugh said the new laws encouraged batsman to play aggressively, but Taylor said he was concerned the new rules would force spin bowlers out of the abbreviated version of the game.The law changes, which include new fielding restrictions and the use of player substitutions, are being tested in the Australian one-day state series as a way of increasing spectator interest in domestic limited-overs cricket.The new fielding rules force teams to keep all but three of their players within a 30-metre radius of the wicket between the 16th and 30th overs, in the hope of encouraging players to hit over the top.The substitution laws allow teams to select a 12-man squad and swap players around at any stage of the match. In effect, the rule means teams can replace a bowler with pitch hitter when the side is batting, or replace a batsman with a specialist bowler when the team is in the field.``I guess the new rules suit the batters more than the bowlers,'' Waugh said. ``But it was a good day's cricket, there was certainly a lot of runs scored.''
