bhooth nath
School Boy/Girl Captain
among the current cricketing world, there is a lot of talk about one-dayers being a batsmans game. another thing given in defence of this is the high amont of 280+ scores and flat pitches being used. this has ultimately led to the death of bowling, especially fast bowling in cricket. none of the current fast bowlers (except irfan pathan) are anywhere as good as the great fast bowlers witnessed earlier like marshall, hadlee, wasim, waqar, walsh, etc.
fast bowlers today have become more of lambs to be slaughtered by batsman. i am saying this as i am a fast bowler myself. in the current rules, till 3 years ago, there was nothing for fast bowlers until the 1 bouncer-per-over rule came into force. currently, there is a talk of baseballisation of the game of cricket as well with new rules coming into play.
one of the rules suggested have been to have the 15 over fielding restrictions being decided by the batting team. batting team ? if the batting team were allowed to decide the 15 over fielding restrictions, then most of the batting teams would go for overs 35-50 so as to accelerate the scoring in the end and this would further kill bowlers. currently, teams are able to reach 180-200 after 35 overs without doing anything worth a mention in the first 15 overs and with the field spread back, make another 120 in the last 15 to get to 300. if the fielding restrictions come over during this period, teams could make 160-180 in the last 15 with wickets in hand getting to scores like 350 in their full 50 overs making the going even more tough for us fast bowlers.
the current rules are just fine, but the changes which should be brought into the game are to have more pitches prepared like the dambulla pitch in sri lanka so that the average score in the one-dayers goes back to 225 like it was 10 years ago as comapred to 285 which it is now. another rule which can be implemented is to have a 2 bouncer-per-over rule instead of the current 1 bouncer-per-over rule in one-dayers and also make the leg-side wide rules a bit less strict. these 2 new rules in addition with preparing dambulla-ish pitches will surely help the bowlers and make cricket more exciting.
many cricketing experts are saying that the average score could be around 350 in a few years time, but the youngsters seem to have more sense as there were very less 270+ scores witnessed in the recent u-19 world cup and no team was able to chase a 260+ score. also, in the asian u-19 tournament and the emerging cup tournament played last year saw teams succesfully defending scores of less than 150 as well. pakistan defended 137 in the emerging cup against india and india defended 148 in the u-19 asia cup against pakistan last year. if these young upcoming bowlers are given pitches which suit them, then within 10 years, we could very well bring the average score in one-dayers down to 225.
IMO, there is more for bowlers in the one-day game than in the test game as bowlers have a lot more to try in the one-dayers. another thing worth mentioning is that although the record for highest succesful run chase is statistically mentioned, a similar bowling achievement for the lowest total succesfully defended does not have a mention anywhere. IICRC, then this record bwlongs to india who defended 127 succesfully against pakistan in a rothmans cup match in 1985.
for those who still want a batsmans game in the one-dayers and want to baseballise cricket, i have a suggestion, finish bowlers completely and make cricket a complete slam-boom-bang affair by playing 11 batsman with an average score of 400+ in the one-dayers.
fast bowlers today have become more of lambs to be slaughtered by batsman. i am saying this as i am a fast bowler myself. in the current rules, till 3 years ago, there was nothing for fast bowlers until the 1 bouncer-per-over rule came into force. currently, there is a talk of baseballisation of the game of cricket as well with new rules coming into play.
one of the rules suggested have been to have the 15 over fielding restrictions being decided by the batting team. batting team ? if the batting team were allowed to decide the 15 over fielding restrictions, then most of the batting teams would go for overs 35-50 so as to accelerate the scoring in the end and this would further kill bowlers. currently, teams are able to reach 180-200 after 35 overs without doing anything worth a mention in the first 15 overs and with the field spread back, make another 120 in the last 15 to get to 300. if the fielding restrictions come over during this period, teams could make 160-180 in the last 15 with wickets in hand getting to scores like 350 in their full 50 overs making the going even more tough for us fast bowlers.
the current rules are just fine, but the changes which should be brought into the game are to have more pitches prepared like the dambulla pitch in sri lanka so that the average score in the one-dayers goes back to 225 like it was 10 years ago as comapred to 285 which it is now. another rule which can be implemented is to have a 2 bouncer-per-over rule instead of the current 1 bouncer-per-over rule in one-dayers and also make the leg-side wide rules a bit less strict. these 2 new rules in addition with preparing dambulla-ish pitches will surely help the bowlers and make cricket more exciting.
many cricketing experts are saying that the average score could be around 350 in a few years time, but the youngsters seem to have more sense as there were very less 270+ scores witnessed in the recent u-19 world cup and no team was able to chase a 260+ score. also, in the asian u-19 tournament and the emerging cup tournament played last year saw teams succesfully defending scores of less than 150 as well. pakistan defended 137 in the emerging cup against india and india defended 148 in the u-19 asia cup against pakistan last year. if these young upcoming bowlers are given pitches which suit them, then within 10 years, we could very well bring the average score in one-dayers down to 225.
IMO, there is more for bowlers in the one-day game than in the test game as bowlers have a lot more to try in the one-dayers. another thing worth mentioning is that although the record for highest succesful run chase is statistically mentioned, a similar bowling achievement for the lowest total succesfully defended does not have a mention anywhere. IICRC, then this record bwlongs to india who defended 127 succesfully against pakistan in a rothmans cup match in 1985.
for those who still want a batsmans game in the one-dayers and want to baseballise cricket, i have a suggestion, finish bowlers completely and make cricket a complete slam-boom-bang affair by playing 11 batsman with an average score of 400+ in the one-dayers.