10 ways to shake up sport

1 Geoff Boycott: Punish slow over rates 'Test cricket is as good now as it has ever been. More matches are played to a result, the run rates are a lot quicker, the crowd are entertained. The only thing letting us down is the appalling over rate. Some teams seem able only to bowl 12 overs a bloody hour. I wrote in 1990 that we need to combat this, but what did the ICC do? They pissed around for 14 years, that's what.I'd fine the bowling side 10 runs for every over short of 15 an hour.'

2 Steve Davis: Make snooker more like bar billiards 'I've had enough of watching players clear the table in one visit. Placing a bar billiards-style mushroom between the blue and the pink spots would give snooker that x-factor it lacks. Every time a player knocks the mushroom over, their score should go back to zero. The sport would return to how it was in the 1970s, when players would make 30 points then run away. You would never be out of the frame.' Steve Davis is a six-time world champion and snooker commentator.

3 John McEnroe: Bring back wooden rackets 'The sweet spot is smaller so players need to be more precise. Play let serves: they quicken the pace and add excitement. Move the service line up an inch: it would make the service less important. All tosses should be hit: if they throw the ball up, it's going to be a fault if they catch it. You're slowing the match down. Players have to be accessible to fans: you can't tell me that tennis players can't make themselves more available. And get a commissioner.' Mac for commissioner, anyone?

4 Stuart Barnes: Ban tactical substitutions 'When you allow tactical substitutions (and these days it's seven per game) then you are giving too much importance to the coach and not enough to the mental courage required by a player to take him through that pain barrier in the last 20 minutes, when his body tells him he doesn't want to make that tackle, but he forces himself to do it all the same.' Stuart Barnes played for England and Bath and is now a Sky rugby analyst.

5 John McCririck: Ban whips 'In 2004, you cannot hit the wife, your kids, or your dog. Yet jockeys hit horses. You cannot justify hurting animals - it's wrong and, in the name of sport, unacceptable. Brave horses being hit by whips is turning people off racing, especially women. The best horses would still win if whips were banned.' John McCririck is a pundit for Channel 4 Racing

6 David Elleray: Introduce sin bins 'I would like to see the sin bin used instead of yellow cards. First, I think it would serve to improve standards of discipline. Second, it makes the system of punishment more just. After all, if you're a key Chelsea player and you take out one of the Arsenal players in a game, why should another team benefit from your subsequent suspension? Scrap the suspension process and send the player off for 10 minutes.' David Elleray was a Fifa and Premiership referee.

7 Gavin Newsham: Make the hole bigger 'Rather than Tiger-proof every course in the world, why not throw the game wide open and double the size of the hole, from four and a quarter inches to an almost wok-sized eight and a half? Monster putts would become the norm, bunker shots would be a doddle and players would be holing their approaches from every conceivable angle.' Gavin Newsham is associate editor of Golf Punk.

8 Barry McGuigan: Same day weigh-ins 'Weigh-ins should be put back so fighters can't cheat the scales. At the moment they take place at 2pm the Friday before a fight, which gives boxers more than 24hours to binge and put weight back on. A boxer who weighs in at 9st 13lb could easily be as heavy as 11st 4lb at fight time. This can make contests uneven and there are also health issues.' Barry McGuigan is a former featherweight world champ.

9 Nigel Mansell: Get rid of driver aids 'Technology has taken so much away from the cars and driver aids shouldn't be allowed. I don't even bother to watch races any more. I am not knocking the drivers, but computers control the gear changes and they simply don't make mistakes. Years ago if we missed a gear it gave an opportunity for other drivers to overtake. That doesn't happen any more.'

10 Kathryn Flett: More women 'There is more to sport than men with balls: there are (whisper it) men without balls and, allegedly, even women. Running, jumping and throwing things are all riveting given the right coverage. I never imagined I could be gripped by two athletes pushing themselves over a bar with a big stick, but the women's pole-vault final in Athens was a white-knuckle thriller.' Kathryn Flett is The Observer's TV critic.

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