Powerplays and Mankads - for the good of the game

Roar Guru

15th November, 2009

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

Freud of Football

Roar Guru

15th November, 2009

With a little encouragement from Vinay Verma and needing a new proposal to add to my recently mentioned application for a job at the ICC, I decided to take a second look at the issue of the batting Powerplay, and what tweaking this new feature could use.

My initial piece on the topic was related to the current tactical mindset and the use of batting Powerplays in game situations, but Vinay came up with an alternative hypothesis in the comments section, which is certainly worthy of debate. Here is a summary:

For the first five overs in both innings there is a fielding restriction of two outside the circle.
The batting side receives two additional 5-over Powerplays.
The bowling side receives one additional 5-over Powerplay.
These additional Powerplays are to be used between overs 5-40.
If both teams choose a Powerplay, a coin toss to see whose will be used.

An interesting spin on things indeed.

I think that the Powerplays have added a new dimension to the game, but I’m not sure that they are perfect as of yet.

However, credit must go to the administrators for bringing in initiatives to promote attacking cricket, as well as trying this in the ODI format and leaving the sacred Test Match cricket intact.

Firstly regarding Vinay’s proposal.

The “Powerplay”, that is the fielding restriction of two outside the circle must remain in place for the first five overs of both innings. Both innings should get off on the same foot for at least the initial five overs.

The idea of making teams take the Powerplays (both batting and bowling) between overs 5-40 is certainly appealing to me.

As Vinay put it, “the last ten in any case are always interesting.” So why captains feel the need, after three decades of successfully hitting out the final ten to bring the field up in the final ten is beyond me. If anything it is a disadvantage as any miscued shots at the death are more likely to fall safe with the field on the ropes than in the circle.

I certainly think this method has some good aspects but some more food for thought; here is my spin on Vinay’s hypothesis:

For the first five overs in both innings there is a fielding restriction of two outside the circle.
Both the batting and bowling team receive a 5-over “two-man powerplay”.
Both the batting and bowling team receive a 5-over “three-man powerplay”.
These additional powerplays are to be used between overs 5-45.

For mine, this would pose more dilemmas for both captains. If a side is off to a flyer, should the bowling captain use his powerplays at the start of the innings or should he wait until the middle overs and try and tie them down then?

Should the batting side use the last 15 overs rather than the customary ten to go all out, or perhaps a ten over period once the ball has stopped swinging but is still hard to pile on a quick 80-100 runs?

I think both proposals have their merits. Vinay’s limits the disadvantage to the bowling team by imposing fielding restrictions for only 20 overs and keeps the last 10 overs for “natural” ODI cricket.

My hypothesis totals 25 overs of fielding restrictions but ten overs where three men are allowed outside the circle as to not totally destroy the bowling innings and only the last five for “natural” ODI cricket.

Either way, keeping at least the last five overs, if not ten open and making captains use their powerplays before this period should be a catalyst for more attacking cricket, from both the batting and fielding sides.

Another proposal that I’d like to put forward here is a “free hit on any extra” rule.

Currently, the free hit only comes into effect with a foot-fault no-ball, the rule has been extremely successful in my opinion and eradicated a large number of these needless extra deliveries but an unwanted consequence would be the seemingly inflated number of wides.

Personally, I get very annoyed watching international cricketers bowling wides. Perhaps as an off-spin bowler with relatively good control I’m not the best judge, but surely players of this calibre should be able to place the ball where they want – or pretty close to it – on a regular basis.

So award every no-ball and wide with a free hit. It will encourage control from the bowlers, which in turn should hopefully speed up the slow over rates.

The last proposal: bring back the Mankad.

Encourage batsmen to take risky singles at the death, let them leave their crease early if they want to try but then let the bowler Mankad them. It is a great intricacy of cricket, unique like the LBW rule, and it deserves its place in cricket. I find it sad that this has left the game in recent years and it should be re-instated.

Now let the debate begin.

Join the conversation

Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.