The world cup 2015 ended just around a week ago and as
expected Australia who were the favourites to win the world cup did it
clinically when it mattered the most. It should not come as a surprise that
Australia won the cup in their own backyard with a very professional
performance throughout the tournament peaking at the right time. This world cup
has highlighted a few critical issues which
the ICC needs to address . At present
there is a growing imbalance between the bat and the ball skewed
hopelessly in favour of the bat. At present
it seems as if batsmen ( read
most Indian men ) seems to be bullying the poor ball ( read Indian women ). The
Indian women it seems has nowhere to go but to tolerate the injustice done to
her by the male counterpart. If this balance between the bat and the ball is
continued to go the way it is we could
be headed for some extremely boring and unpopular cricketing contests in the
near future.
Everyone thought that
since the Australian grounds were quite big with long boundaries and the scores
in the world cup would be around 250-300 at best. However scores of 300 plus
and even 400 were being scored with ridiculous ease. The batsmen were making a
mockery of the hapless bowlers. The bats
have become meatier and thicker across
the edge. There used to be a sweet spot on the bats during the 1990’s but now
the whole of the bat has become a sweet bat with balls coming off edges also
going for sixes. Initially it seems very exciting for the viewers but after a while it becomes ridiculously one
sided and boring in favour of the batsmen. One of the most interesting games of
the tournament was funnily a low scoring affair between Trans- Tasman rivals
Australia- New Zealand. 19 wickets fell in the match and the combined totals of
the teams barely crossed 300. The length of the bat is restricted but there is no restriction on the thickness of
the edge of the bat. Surely the
administrators need to place some guidelines on the specifications of the edges
of the bat.
It is not just the bats which are an area of concern but
also the fielding restrictions which
have created huge problems for the fielding captains and the bowlers. The bowlers
find it almost impossible to restrict the rampaging batsmen especially in the
last 15 overs. In the 2nd batting powerplay with
just 3 fielders outside the inner circle, bowlers have no other option but to take wickets to exert some kind of pressure
on the batsmen. Even in the last 10 overs during
this world cup teams have managed to score almost at a run rate of 12 runs per over adding to the woes of the fielding captains. The ICC needs to revisit the theory of 5 fielders
in the circle at all times as the fielding captains tend to captain according
to the regulations not according to their own imagination. When the ICC
introduced 2 new balls at each end they must have thought it would help the
fast bowlers swing the ball for longer durations but this move also seems to
have backfired simply because of the fact that there are
very few genuine swing bowlers left in the
game who can exploit the 2 new balls and
the fact that flat batting wickets all over the world have only made it easier
for the batsmen to score easily at both ends. With 2 new balls at each end the
art of reverse swing which formed an important arsenal for the fast bowlers has
become redundant. When there was just
the one ball being used, the bowlers could exert some control on the batsmen
with late reverse swing along with the fact that the old ball made it harder for the batsmen to
score due to lack of pace from the wickets. Due to the non existence of reverse swing, the
bowlers have forgotten to bowl deadly and fast yorkers which made the ODI’s
exciting in the 90’s. The batsmen also had to manipulate the ball in the
gaps against the spinners who turned the ball making it for interesting
viewing.
The list of
suggestions to make the game more evenly
contested is endless. Due to the commercial interests the pitch curators also
prepare batting friendly wickets all over the world to ensure scores of more
than 300 which are being achieved with
ridiculous ease. I am not sure the
spectators tend to enjoy all 300 plus games with regularity as they tend to get
bored over a period of time. The curators need to understand the fact that they can prepare flat batsmen
friendly pitches for the T-20 format but
for the ODI’s and tests they need to give something to the bowlers to make it a
more interesting contest. The length of boundaries at some of the ground in
India and New Zealand are just
laughable. We need to go to the 70’s and
80’s era where the boundary ropes / boards were not brought inside their full
capacity. The boundaries now a days are
so short on some of these grounds that even top edges of the batsmen tend to go
for sixes. There are some very senior cricketers involved in the working of the
ICC which makes it even more
astonishing. Surely having played the game at the highest level and having seen the game from
the sidelines must make them realize that
there might come a time when the bowlers might revolt against the ICC
for the unfair treatment meted out to them by the organisers. That day would be
one of the saddest this game might witness and we should hope that such a situation never arises and the
ICC opens its eyes and stops making cosmetic and myopic changes. The fraternity
of spinners and fast bowlers is an important and exciting one and needs to be
safeguarded.
