Australia captain Ricky Ponting swings out at the ball. AP Photo/Matt Dunham
Last Friday’s ODI in Sydney made me think. At first, I felt Chris Gayle’s decision to send Australia in to bat after winning the toss was unwise, as the pitch appeared easy to bat on. But as the match progressed, I saw method in his “madness”.
Obviously he had read the weather forecast.
He had anticipated that the Australians will play their full 50 overs and his team will barely get 10 to 20 overs before the storm. It was his only chance of not getting defeated.
It was a negative attitude, no doubt, but a realistic one. Apart from the home team being stronger, he lacked Dwayne Bravo, Kemar Roach, Chanderpaul, Sarwan …
Gayle’s plan worked as the drawn match kept the series alive.
What should Ricky Ponting have done to outfox Gayle?
As declarations are not allowed in ODIs, he should have asked his batsmen to throw caution to the wind (in this case, gale!) and attacked, batting like in a Twenty20 match. Although the pitch was not as easy as it first appeared, Australia could have aimed for 200 runs for 10 wickets in 30 overs, sacrificing wickets in chase for runs.
The run-rate would have been 4.00 per over (200 in 50 overs) and not 6.7 (200 in 40 overs). Of course, there was a risk that it would not have rained as heavily as forecast.
But as the rains came in buckets after 7 pm, followed by thunder and lightning, the Windies would have had about 25 overs to chase or survive with the Duckworth/Lewis method giving us different par scores every over.
What an enthralling finish the spectators would have had rather than walking back to the car park, Central railway station or home drenched after a no-match.
That brings me to the point: why are declarations not allowed in ODIs?
It would add an extra dimension in strategy – especially when storms are predicted.
Especially with Fifty50s losing their previous crowd appeal, a new innovation with a declaration thrown in could add to spectator interest. Think about it.
I asked the ABC radio team regarding the legitimacy of declaring an innings in ODIs. After consultation, the answer was that declarations were banned a few decades ago when Somerset captain Brian Close had declared an innings closed during a county one-day match to protect the run-rate.
This was quite logical. My counter suggestion is this: If a team declares at, say, 220 in 40 overs, the run-rate should be calculated as 220 in 50 overs, that is, a run-rate of 4.4 and not 5.5, if you get my drift.
If a captain is desperate to win, he might take a gamble.
This will add to the excitement of paying customers who will return to watch Fifty50 games in droves even when a storm is brewing.
As today’s Hall of Fame inductee Bill Lawry would say, “It’s all happening!”
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