Thats a lovely article by you and it contains a lot of interesting points. The batting powerplay has certainly made one day cricket more refreshing by bringing in the element of surprise, which i think had been missing in the last few years.

I have a question, if anyone can answer this it would be great.

Q: Supposingly the fielding captain brings about ‘X’ bowler into the attack, and the batting team decide to take the powerplay and the umpire signals the power play overs begin, is it possible for the fielding captain to take off ‘X’ from the attack and bring about any other bowler in his place? And whether if it is possible then can the batting team cancel its powerplay option for that particular moment?

The 20/20s are a different style again and the bowlers are only perhaps learning now, after a season or two how to play it so they are not just cannon fodder. The emphasis on using slower bowlers so that the batsman can’t feed off the pace of the delivery is interesting, and it is no surprise that even at age 38 (or is it 39) SKW does OK in this form of cricket. So much for the death of spin.

After the two recent matches though, it was refreshing to see a return to the more leisurely pace of the 50 overs odi where batsmen have to value their wicket more than in the 20/20 and need to employ a bit more technique… a bit like going from odi to test matches…

20/20 looks here to stay, and all three versions of the game have a place – in fact 20/20 might in effect save the odi by pulling in some more spectators and money. As for overdoing it, it looks like the cricket authorities have been taking advice from the IRB and SANZAR, but we probably should all remember that even first class games in cricket do not attract huge crowds (in Australia at least, not talking about India here), despite the novelty value of the current inter state competition. The money is all in the international fixtures.

Thanks Greg for clearing up the rules. I had a look myself and it’s interesting that, in the advent of a conflict of powerplays the umpire has to decide who elected to take their’s first (the fielding team or batting team). I’d love to see a situation where a fielding team, having been smashed for 100 off the first 10 overs elects not to take their bowling power play straight away…and then immediately the batting team elects to take theirs to get the psychological edge. This batting power play certainly has added a whole new dimension.

To answer your question “what would happen if a batting side didn’t call for its power play? Is this allowed?”: the batting team’s powerplay automatically applies for the last 5 overs if it has not already been taken. Ditto for the bowling team’s. If both have not been taken by the completion of 40 overs, then presumably they automatically apply for the final 10 overs (I don’t know which comes first).

Your point that “it is sometimes easier for stroke-makers like Ponting who don’t generally hit in the air to score runs when there are plenty of gaps in the in-field” is one that captains have been sadly reluctant to address. They are not compelled to have 5 men on the boundary, but most automatically do this.

Generally Australian captains, including Ponting, have been amongst those more prepared to risk not having 5 men on the boundary. However the idea seems not yet to have occurred to Ponting with regard to Duminy in this series.

Incidentally, I now agree with you that Duminy is an utter star. South Africa should just move him to 3 and base all their batting around him. Just watch him playing Tait: where others struggle with his pace, Duminy has time aplenty. And that of course is the clearest mark of greatness: having time where others do not.

Now that one of the power plays is in the hands of the batting team – which should always have been the case – that same unpredictability about the middle period has returned, and you can sense it among the players, crowd, and certainly the commentators. “When WILL they take the power play?” seems to be the new catch-cry of the Ch9 boys…

You make some very interesting points.
The power plays have made ODI a much more interesting game to watch. I for one found them as or more exciting than the twenty20′s. It has made it into a more tactical version of the game while still having more fours and sixes than test cricket.
Your literary analogy is also spot on.