Prior to the start of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, there was a lot of talk and discussion that the biggest talking points would include: small boundaries, lots of fours and sixes, easing of fielding restrictions during non-power play overs, big bats, and bowlers getting tonked.
At the time of writing, after 33 group matches, 64 innings, an incredible 23 team totals of 300-plus have been scored, including three scores of 400-plus.
There has been some serious discussion and speculation that the ICC will reassess the size of modern bats and possibly set restrictions on how thick bats should be.
To me, that is ridiculous and unnecessary.
In my opinion, bats these days are no better, nor any different to bats of 20 years ago. Yes the edges are a lot thicker, which allow batsman to not worry about going hard at deliveries as they are often confident it will fly over the slips or keepers head, but that’s about it.
According to Michael Hussey’s 2013 autobiography Underneath the Southern Cross, Mr Cricket believes that bats these days have more of a mental effect than physical effect – in other words, the bigger and thicker the construction of the bat, the more confident they are in feeling they can have a hack and get away with it.
Hussey believes that bats from 20 years ago and today aren’t any much difference in terms of their ability to hit big sixes and Mr Cricket does have a point. Mark Waugh was able to hit a 110m six onto the roof of the WACA in 2001, with a bat almost a third of the thickness of David Warner’s or Chris Gayle’s, through utilising the art of timing to his advantage.
Additionally, the bigger bats may have a mental effect or intimidation factor for bowlers – as bowlers who see batsmen with massive bats may believe that whatever they bowl, getting them out will be difficult, if not impossible.
I’d also like to reiterate the fact that players like Vivian Richards and Ian Botham were long hitting big sixes 30-35 years ago on bats that not only are paper thin compared to the bats these days, but on non-roped boundaries. The 90-100m boundary straight down the ground at the Adelaide Oval was never roped off when Richards and Botham played, and they both easily cleared that boundary, again simply by timing the ball – and also brute strength.
The likes of Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds – two players well known for their hitting ability – began their careers well before bats began to thicken, yet they had no trouble finding the crowd earlier in their careers.
It’s not the bats that make it easier to hit sixes – thicker bats only make it easier to get away with edges over the slips. It’s rather the evolution of the game and development of T20 cricket that has made it easier to hit fours and sixes.
Furthermore, it may also come down to the type of player and their natural hitting ability and natural strength, or simply just how well the player can time the ball. Michael Clarke’s spartan may be the same size as Chris Gayle’s spartan, but he may find it hard to clear the rope as he is not as strong as Gayle.
Shots like reverse sweeps, switch-hits, ramps, scoops, across the line baseball hacks, the helicopter – the invention of these shots and the demand of fans is why we are seeing many more crowd catches (or in the case of this tournament, dropped catches) in the modern era. Fans want to be entertained and expect to be, and often players oblige.
Maybe there needs to be some sort of assessment done on Warner’s or Gayle’s bat, as they are ridiculously thick, almost the size of two bats, but the ICC are not focusing on the real issue.
The ICC need to look at the increasing of boundary sizes, possibly setting a standard of how long international boundaries should be – maybe even possibly extending them five to ten metres longer than Test boundaries for ODI and T20 cricket.
Some grounds in the world have ridiculously short boundaries, as short as 45 metres like the ones at Eden park. These shorter boundaries make it a lot easier for batsmen to clear the rope, making the bigger bats look even bigger.
Another factor at play here is the tactics implemented by bowlers. For me, bowlers are not utilising enough variety of deliveries and are dishing up too many length balls. The tactics are more in hope to contain the batting side from scoring runs rather than in an attempt to take wickets.
We have so far seen Chris Gayle, Ab De Villiers and Glenn Maxwell light up the tournament with some scintillating batting. However, as phenomenal as the batting has been from these three players, I cant help but wonder that they’ve been helped by the bowlers.
We saw Glenn Maxwell score the fastest ODI hundred by an Australian and the second fastest in World Cup history. It was an innings of shear brutality and unorthodox class.
However, if you look at the deliveries that were bowled at him, I reckon over 75% were either length deliveries in the slot, or half volleys just asking to be hit. The Sri Lankan pace bowlers (minus Malinga) dished up some very hittable balls to Maxwell that only made it easier for him to back away and loft it over the offside: length deliveries at 130km/h on middle stump making it very easy for Maxwell to flick his wrists over the leg side, full tosses that just made it easy for him to baseball it over the leg side or switch his hands and go over third man.
This is exactly the problem – bowlers are either not using enough variety, or they were doing it far too late after a batsman has already taken them down for 10 an over, and by the time they try it, the batsman is already set and in such good form that he can easily pick up the variation.
Both Mitch Starc and Lasith malinga have revitilised the traditional sandshoe crusher. Starc so far has taken 12 wickets this tournmanent and nine of them have been either perfect swinging yorkers, or full length deliveries close to yorker length that still prove too quick for batsmen.
The two matches at Eden Park, easily the smallest ground in the tournament have not seen a score passed 250 and saw both the two hot favourites of the tournament, almost bundled out for 150!
How’s that even possible you say? Just by good bowling.
Bowlers these days are not consistent enough in their executions. The Afghanistan bowlers against Australia bowled some excellent yorkers towards the death, yet they still went for 200 in the last 20 overs as they were not consistent with their yorkers – there would be 10-20 pies and length, hittable deliveries before the next yorker.
It may also be due to the fact bowlers and teams these days don’t have a plan, believing whatever they bowl, they will still go for 100 in the last 10 overs.
We’ve seen so far in this tournament that it is possible to restrict a team and bowl them out for less than 300 if you bowl to a plan, and bowl consistently – Mitch Starc, Dale Steyn, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Ravi Ashwin and Daniel Vetorri have all shown this as they’ve bowled to a plan and bowled consistently, rarely releasing pressure with a bad ball.
Bowlers shouldn’t be worried about shorter boundaries as shorter boundaries may be more of a disadvantage to batsmen than bowlers, if plans are executed and lines and lengths are consistently good.
If you’re playing at Eden Park, pitch the ball up and make the batsman play straight. If the batsmen get bogged down, they may start to think the only way they can score is by hitting towards the shorter boundaries which can result in an across the line shot and bring about a dismissal.
If playing in Adelaide the same applies – pitch the ball up and encourage batsmen to hit towards the 90 metre straight boundary.
If playing in Melbourne, don’t be afraid to pitch it short of a good length or bounce the batsmen as the square boundaries are both 80 metres.
Finally, I’d love to see bowlers bowl more variety. If the yorker isnt bowled because bowlers believe that it is too predictable, then maybe bowl a slower ball, or slower bouncer or faster bouncer, or better yet, don’t bowl the same yorker over and over again – bowl a slower ball yorker or wider yorker.
That being said, death bowling is becoming increasingly harder for bowling teams and over the last decade ODI cricket is fast favouring batsmen more often than not.
But there have been games so far this tournament that have shown it can still be a bowlers game, if you bowl to a plan, vary your deliveries and bowl consistently to a set field.
Roarers what do you think?
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