Wickets now key to getting white-ball win
The editor of Cricket Statistician analyses recent events
Eoin Morgan has vowed that in the Champions Trophy England will attack all the time – when batting. But what are the prospects for teams who attack when they are bowling as well? England have always praised “bowling dry”, keeping the runs down, and indeed ever since the start of the one-day game, bowling teams have been preoccupied with defence.
They persistently used dibbly-dobbly medium pacers (with little or no expectation of taking wickets) until batsmen showed they could be attacked if you were willing to try.Yet with higher and higher scores in one-day internationals, it looks as if a team who reaches 100 for two off 20 overs is more than likely to top 300.You think you have restrained them, but a quick analysis of recent results shows that teams who reach 100 with only two wickets down are likely to make a winning score, even if their scoring rate to 100 is not exceptional. Teams who have lost four for 100 are on the way to defeat. So, if the batting side’s main aim is to keep wickets in hand, then the bowling side’s aim is surely to take wickets, not collude with them by “bowling dry”.
The shape of 50-over cricket is changing because of the increases in scoring, whether due to heavier bats, short boundaries or changes in mindset. The 30 to 40-over lull was uninteresting because essentially both sides were colluding in the acceptance of three to four an over while they gathered strength. After 40 overs the batsmen were prepared to attack again, but the bowling side usually was not: it kept trying to keep it dry, so at least you now had different objectives for both teams. But we now seem to have reached the point where at all times the batsmen are attacking, the bowling side defending.
This season’s IPL has shown the usefulness of attacking wrist spinners in white-ball cricket to take wickets at vital stages in the innings – sometimes at the start, but it does not have to be wrist spinners.
Think how often a ball flies off the edge to where second slip might have been in the first couple of overs as batsmen, their eyes not quite in yet, throw the bat outside off stump. Because it’s the powerplay batsmen take more risks
Nearly all one-day sides hit long these days, with even former rabbits turning their hands to it – witness Sunil Narine, who has gone from a tail-ender to making a 50 off 15 balls as an opener in the IPL. But they do not all bat long, and 100 for four is not a good position for a hitter. One might not think that a T20 side can recover after losing four early wickets – six wickets may last for 15 overs but are less likely to last for 40.
Good captains surely look to change the shape of a game, not to roll with it. What will we see in the Champions Trophy?