The level of natural advantage afforded to batsmen and bowlers is a divide that is gaining distance. In an effort to bridge this gap, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced it will push back the boundary to the maximum distance for all international matches.
As the professional standard of international cricket has increased, and the athleticism of players has skyrocketed, it is impossible to deny that the balance between batsman and bowler has been thrown off as harshly as a Shane Warne miracle ball.
Not only has the technology behind batsmen’s tools improved out of sight, allowing them to hit further with little extra effort, but the sheer power they can exert on a simple 160-gram ball of cork and leather has been boosted significantly by modern training methods.
Concurrently, as a batsman’s ability to clear the ropes has improved, the distance of the rope from the wicket has reduced.
For many cricketing pundits, this development has made little sense in the interest of producing fair and riveting cricket.
The advent of T20 cricket has, of course, been a driving force behind the boundary creeping in, but with bowler’s and spectator’s brewing frustration beginning to boil over every time a batsman miss-hits a good delivery for six, the ICC is at last making a move to rectify the imbalance.
Speaking on their intentions to reverse the boundary’s advance on the wicket, the ICC’s general manager of cricket, Geoff Allardice stated: “For all formats we want grounds set up to their maximum size. It’s a maximum of 90 yards but with the way that bats are performing these days, and the way the batsmen are hitting the ball, sometimes mis-hits are carrying for six and there is concern that that balance is a bit skewed at the moment.”
The ICC met in Melbourne this week to discuss a range of plans that include giving more weight in cricketing schedules to series that are competed for by two of either India, England and Australia.
Former Indian cricket chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan is also set to be appointed as the new ICC chairman.
Johnno
Guest
Warney talked about widening the stumps, I don't think that's such a bad idea. Bats have got wider, and batters are more padded why not make the stumps higher and wider, maybe a 3 and quarters stumps, or 4 stumps even, could make it interesting.
Shouts Chen
Guest
How about having 8 runs when you hit a mammoth shot.
mike parker
Guest
All bowling and bating averages over decades are now irrelevant with the shortening of boundaries and new bat technology. T20 is not cricket, just a money spinner for a new audience. Mike another old leggie
Clark
Guest
Yeah that would be good. For me as long as someone doesn't throw the ball as hard as possible down the pitch, they should be more lenient.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Great news. Hopefully the days of a scoop shot over the keeper for six will be gone. Of course if they want to really bring the conditions up to scratch for the bowlers, how about LBW foe balls pitched outside of leg stump (an old leggie talking here). Re chucking, give it back to the umpires.
Clark
Guest
This is great news. One thing that I have been a little bit concerned about at the moment is the players actions being more scrutinized than ever in my mind. This week Kane Williamson has had his action tested, Shane Shillingford got type of deliveries banned and Ahjmal from Pakistan has come under scrutiny by the English. In this day and age of a Batsmen oriented game, surely you need to bring some aspect in favour of the bowlers again to make than game interesting. I think if they extended the "chucking" elbow angle rule for slow, spin bowlers I would be satisfied, I mean Murali pretty much did it his entire career right? They either need to be more lenient, or identify these actions quicker before player's careers take off before a scrutinized bowling action becomes a habit for them.
Lachlan Doyle
Roar Pro
It's about time! Finally miss hits won't be rewarded in 6's.
Johnno
Guest
A return to the 1970's,80's, and 90's, good times ahead for all 3 forms of the game, finally some more even contest between bat and ball, and the return of more stylish strokemakers, not just athletes baseball style batters who just hot home runs or should I say 4's and 6's. A return to India's Sunil Gavaskar, or Asia's Bradman as he was known Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas, or the stylish Aussy batter Mark Waugh, or Englands David Gower. im so over the endless Dave Warner's, or Sewaags, or Kieren Pollard's dominating cricket especially in the short forms of the game, and now int he longer forms. In the old days in the 70's or 80's and ODI century was a big deal. Dean Jones 145 at the Gabba in 1990-91 as we remember was such a famous innings, it had everything. We remember when a 4 or 6 even was a big shot in an innings. Makes you realize how good Viv Richards the Master blaster Viv was, or Lance Cairns big innings at the MCG in the 80's with no ropes was, or some of Simon O'donnell's innings were. So sick of batter haveing bloated and inflated averages and strike rates. I hope the ICC follow through on this, and bring back real cricket batsmen not baseball home run sluggers. Good move if the ICC make the changes on boundary distances. Remember the days everyone when 250 was a big innings for a team in ODI cricket, you win 85% of your matches if you got 250. And probably 70% if you got 220 and say a 50% each way bet if you got 200. Chasing down 220 under lights in ODI cricket at the MCG or SCG used to be a tough thing to do. Remember when South Africa chased down a ridiculous 434 aussy score in an ODI game in 2006 in South Africa, with one ball to spare, Yes only 1 ball to spare but that shows about 870 runs were scored combined by both team, talk about hyperinflation, and bloated batting averages, and bowler being treated with contempt and cannon fodder. Make it an even contest between bat and ball in the ODI and T20 games, to much has favoured the batters, not the way cricket was meant to be played. Looking forward to the good old days when we actually cheered a 100 for a player not look at it as regular. The recent ODI series the aussies played in India was awful, bloated batting figures, and bowler just cannon fodder for batters bloating up there averages.