The news that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are both prepared to use a combined points system to determine the results of their upcoming tours against England is an exciting development for fans of cricket.
Or fans of weighted summation. Or, as seems most likely, fans of both cricket and weighted summation.
With four points available for each Test victory, along with two for each ODI or T20 victory, the rationale for this approach is that it functions as a unification of the various forms of the game in order to find the better, more rounded team across the entire tour.
This points scoring approach was pioneered in the Women’s Ashes – currently the preferred form of the Ashes for approximately one hundred percent of Australia cricket fans – and has proven to be a success there. So why not try it somewhere else and see what happens? After all, there’s no harm in trying stuff. (No, seriously, South Africa. There really isn’t.)
But we could, and therefore should, go further. For the past two Sheffield Shield seasons, a bonus points system has been used to encourage more positive cricket from the various state teams. A win earned a team six points, with a draw one point each, but bonus points were also available during the first one hundred overs as follows:
The batting team earned .01 points for every run above 200
The bowling team earned 0.5 points for the fall of each of the fifth, seventh and ninth wickets
This bonus points system has proven to be a resounding success in terms of not only encouraging more attacking cricket but also in introducing the need to measure a six-team ladder to two decimal places. Fantastic stuff.
So let’s get these Sheffield Shield bonus points into the blend of the combined touring points system thing. And let’s go even further with it. Replicating the Sheffield Shield system will encourage positive play in the Tests. But surely the ODIs and T20s could use some positiving up too.
Why not trial the following?
ODIs
Being ahead on an ‘At This Stage’ comparison: 0.01 points per over
Doubling your score after thirty overs: 0.2 points
T20s
Hitting four or more sixes in an over: 0.5 points
Bowling a maiden over: 0.3 points
Both ODIs and T20s
Playing a shot that makes a commentator cross: 0.15 points per shot (although just 0.001 points each if the batsman is Glenn Maxwell)
Taking a catch that involves somebody tossing a ball to either themselves or a nearby team-mate when momentum would have otherwise taken them over the boundary rope: 0.1 points
And, looking at the broader picture, why not points for having the more well-rounded team in general? Let’s say 0.3 points for each player who plays in every possible game across all three formats?
Now we’ve got a series.
But it’s obviously not just about making the cricket more exciting. Making the cricket funnier should be an even greater priority. After all, we must never forget that funny cricket is better than good cricket.
So why not trial the following bonus point rules as well and see just how funny a cricket tour can be?
Taking a wicket in a method considered against ‘the Spirit of Cricket’ (e.g. Mankad, Ben Stokes punching the ball away from his stumps): 1.2 points (boosted to 2.4 points if against England or any other nation that contains a critical mass of journalists and ex-players who will froth at the mouth about the dismissal for days on end)
Being New Zealand: 0.5 total points for the first thousand acts of niceness and fair play, zero thereafter
Adjusting a sight screen for what feels like twenty minutes before being bowled the very next ball: 0.8 points
Having a decision go against you that would easily be overturned with DRS: 1.5 points (India only)
Possessing ludicrous facial hair: 0.05 points per player
Having a player nicknamed ‘The Finisher’ score the winning run of the game: 0.4 points
Not walking when obviously out and the onfield umpire misses it: 0.2 points
Not walking when obviously out and the third umpire misses it: 0.5 points
Not walking when obviously out and the umpires miss it and you’re batting against Australia, or any other team likely to get hypocritically furious about your refusal to walk: 1.5 points
Reversing the batting order: 0.4 points
Last wicket partnership being the highest of an innings: 0.7 points
Taking a wicket off a no ball: 0.25 points
Being bowled out before lunch on the first day of a Test: 3 points
Being bowled out before lunch on the first day of a must-win Test: 5 points
Being bowled out before lunch on the first day of a must-win Test but where performing so poorly in that Test paradoxically gives you enough points to win the series: 20 points
Harshal Patel was not a happy man!
David Lord has been remembered as an icon of Australian sports journalism following his death, aged 84. The renowned writer and broadcaster was an…
Sign the man up for a contract next season!
RCB have suffered a massive HEAD-ACHE after Travis Head smashed the fastest century by an SRH player in just 39 balls, as they amassed…
A brutal century by Travis Head has blasted Sunrisers Hyderabad back into the Indian Premier League play-off places in another match for bowlers to…
Two Aussies abroad have endured wildly different fortunes as Jake Fraser-McGurk joined the world stage with a thrilling first IPL half century, but Scott…
