Australia have signalled to the batsmen of the world what is coming in 2014 and it looks like the world of cricket is following suit.
Every quick bowler in every T20, one day and Test match I have seen this year has employed more than their usual quota of bouncing deliveries – and with telling effect.
The Bodyline 2 strategy set in place by Mitch Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and even Shane Watson at times has resonated and pleased the bowlers who have to toil on bouncing or flat wickets, which make up 99% of world cricket’s pitches.
Names such as Johnson, Stuart Broad, Harris, Chris Tremlett, Boyd Rankin, Steve Finn, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, James Pattinson, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have used the bouncing delivery simply to intimidate and get wickets.
They don’t care how benign the track is. The more benign, the more they dig it in.
Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Beherendorff, Kane Richardson, Gurinder Sandhu, Josh Hazelwood, Jackson Bird, Mitch Marsh, Sean Abbott, Ben Cutting and many, many others are softening the best and the brittlest of batsmen up.
The ball is striking the well padded ones between hip and the top of the helmet and no batsman feels secure when the ball hits or even almost hits them.
The nature of these things is it becomes a fad for a time, then disappears.
But if Brett Lee and Shaun Tait in semi-retirement can bowl bouncers at 145 kph and hit all kinds of people, imagine what is going through the minds of young quicks all over the world.
The West Indian quicks are all athletic, fast running demons. Maybe they can rescue the Windian batting by bouncing teams out?
Pakistan’s Bilawal Batthi was bowling three or four an over against Sri Lanka for Pakistan, all with intent and with some success. His mates followed suit on occasion.
New Zealand’s left handed pack can bowl beautiful swinging deliveries, but they too are bouncing people out on slow and flat decks.
Every T20 quick I have seen now values the bouncing ball as a weapon to go with Yorkers, full and wide, changes of pace, slow bouncing bouncers.
James Faulkner, Dougie Bollinger, Will Sheridan from Victoria, John Hastings, Samuel Rainbird, even Moises Henriques is employing the effort ball and peppering the batsmen mercilessly.
Television will send a message to young quicks that if the wicket is flat, or even if you are playing in a grade game and you can’t get a guy out, bounce him.
Not a metre over his head, right at the body, anywhere between hip and top of helmet.
It will put the batsman under pressure to find a defence to it. They may hook more, or ramp the ball over slips, which in turn brings the fielding captains field placings into play.
Courage and control of one’s emotions while batting is suddenly mandatory. The quicks are responding to the edict for flat wickets around the globe. The batsmen suddenly know they have had the playing field levelled.
No longer can they rock onto the front foot and smash back past the bowler with impunity.
It promises to be a fiery cricketing year.
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