Every cricket fan knows that the contest between bat and ball has swung massively towards the former in recent years.
The emergence of the Twenty20 format, increasingly docile pitches and advances in batting technology have all had a massive influence.
It really is a batsman’s game at the moment.
That got me thinking about one of the quirks of cricket – all specialist bowlers have to bat, but specialist batsmen don’t have to bowl.
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Imagine if, at least in 50-over cricket, everyone except the wicketkeeper had to bowl, and how that would change the dynamic of that format of the game. Mathematically it could work neatly, with five bowlers each sending down seven overs, and five batsmen bowling three each.
But regardless of whether that would be an experiment worth trying or not, the fact that bowlers do have to bat in all forms of cricket does provide its own form of entertainment.
In no other top level sport do you get to see people with a limited skill so regularly on display as you do with genuine number 11s when they bat. It gives us all a glimpse of what we might look like if we were out there in the middle.
And maybe the entertainment would work in reverse if specialist batsmen were forced to bowl in at least one format of the game.
Anyway, speaking of batting bunnies, below is a list of some of the major ones in Australian cricket history, based on their Test records. A couple of them do, however, have a notable batting highlight as a part of their careers.
Mike Whitney, for example, famously survived Richard Hadlee’s last over on Day 5 of the 1987 Boxing Day Test to deny New Zealand victory. And Glenn McGrath scored a memorable half-century against the Kiwis at the Gabba in 2004.
Bob Holland – 11 Tests, average 3.18
Bruce Reid – 27 Tests, average 4.65
Carl Rackemann – 12 Tests, average 5.30
Jim Higgs – 22 Tests, average 5.55
Wayne Clark – 10 Tests, average 5.76
Alan Hurst – 12 Tests, average 6.0
Mike Whitney – 12 Tests, average 6.18
Terry Alderman – 41 Tests, average 6.54
Glenn McGrath – 124 Tests, average 7.36
Doug Bollinger – 12 Tests, average 7.71
Who are the batting bunnies that you remember fondly, either from Australia or other countries?
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