The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Away with specialist bowlers, it's a batsmen's World Cup

23rd February, 2015
Advertisement
(AFP Photo/Marty Melville)
Expert
23rd February, 2015
71
1334 Reads

Last week, Roar expert Ronan O’Connell made the case that more specialist bowlers needed to be picked for Australia in this World Cup, and that too many all-rounders was not the way to go.

I’m here to present the rebuttal.

Specialist bowlers are the most critical components of Test cricket, to the point that it would be almost impossible to win a match without them. Bits and pieces players rarely get the job done in the five-day game.

But this is a batsmen’s World Cup. Bigger bats, shorter boundaries and tighter fielding restrictions have been the talk of the town. Scores of 300 have become the minimum standard. And it takes a team of batting strength to either set a target beyond this, or chase one down.

Teams have regularly been piling on more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs, when the best opposition bowlers are in operation.

Once the best batsmen in the world decide to open their shoulders in the shorter formats, it’s open season on bowlers. Often it’s all-rounders that have more tricks in their bag, and are slower to begin with anyway.

The faster the ball comes in this format, the faster it pings off the bat. Edges become a batsmen’s friend as they careen away to a vacant boundary.

At this World Cup, and limited overs in general these days, all bowlers are cannon fodder, and whether you’re the best in the world or an off-spinning all-rounder, when the time comes, you’re going to get spanked.

Advertisement

Little more than a week into the tournament and we’ve already seen many examples, from both Test playing nations and the associates.

The first innings of the World Cup set the tone, when Sri Lanka’s opening bowlers, Nuwan Kulasekara and Lasith Malinga, went for 9.75 and 8.40 an over respectively. Later that day, all five of England’s first choice bowlers went for between six and seven an over.

While on England, when New Zealand routed them, Jimmy Anderson went for 7.4 an over, Broad 11.57 and Steve Finn a memorable 24.5. Anderson is the fourth ranked ODI bowler in the world, Finn the 12th.

In the Ireland upset win against the West Indies, the Irish opening bowlers, as well as the experienced Windies duo Kemar Roach and James Taylor, all conceded more than eight an over.

Sohail Khan went for 73 off his 10 overs for Pakistan against the West Indies. The Zimbabwean opening bowlers went for 71 and 73 off their 10 overs against South Africa. In the same match, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel went for more than a run a ball between them.

In Sunday’s match at the ‘G, the might of South Africa’s attack conceded more than 300 against India. Steyn and Morkel went for plenty again, 55 and 59 respectively off their 10 overs, while Wayne Parnell conceded a whopping 85 from nine.

The player rankings tell us that Steyn and Morkel are both top 10 bowlers.

Advertisement

Coming into the World Cup, the view on India was that their batting was strong, but their bowling too weak for the team to have any meaningful impact.

Their response? Belt out 300 or more against Pakistan and South Africa, and coast to comfortable victory while both teams collapsed with batting line-ups that included four or five specialist bowlers.

Best to fill those spots with all-rounders, so the accelerated batting can start earlier than it currently is.

If batting first, the big total is the first form of defence. We’ve seen chasing sides go to water when faced with overcoming six or more an over.

If batting second, do so with the confidence of a long and capable line-up, enabling you to change gears and tone throughout the innings.

The point is this – it’s a batsmen’s tournament. And it will continue to be. Fighting fire with fire? This World Cup, fighting fire-power with fire-power is the only sensible course.

close