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One of the game’s favourite clichés has recently been pulled
from the dusty recesses of the pavilion to have the cobwebs brushed off it once
again. It remains as true today as it ever was: the balance between bat and
ball.
The recurring critique this month has been that the ODI
playing conditions have tipped too far in favour of the bat. The three usual
suspects hauled up to face the punditry committee are: “bats these days”; the
rule change allowing only four fielders outside the circle; and a new ball from
both ends.
The ongoing “bats these days” brouhaha deserves a column of
its own, so let’s come back to that later. The other two are hard to argue
with.
The four-men-out experiment has made the whole concept of
defence, especially at the death, almost redundant. So much so, that even the
ICC may have noticed, and there’s a reasonable chance we’ll see it revert back
to five after the World Cup.
I’d love to see a return to the solitary ball, and with it
the potential for fun stuff like sharp spin and reverse swing, but as it’s
apparently beyond the wit of man to make a white ball that stays white for 50
overs, we’re probably stuck with two.
So as it stands the balance does seem skewed. All the more
remarkable then, that despite the game being rigged against them, the cream of
the world’s fast bowlers have put on quite a show.
Two thirds of Australia’s Mitchell triumvirate, Marsh and
Johnson, have been quiet, but Starc has been excellent, as fine an exponent as
you’ll see of the blisteringly fast late swinging yorker. New Zealand’s new
ball (each) pair of Southee and Boult have also been exceptional. But for me it
was two subcontinental quicks who have so far provided the best
edge-of-the-seat moments.
The top “Hello, here comes the upset!” contender came
courtesy of the tournament’s surprise package, the 90 mph Bangladeshi quick
with cheekbones you could open letters with, Rubel Hossain. Fresh from
gleefully sealing England’s early fate, when he tempted Kholi into a waft
outside off-stump in the quarter-final against India, those Douglas Fairbanks matinee
idol features were transformed by a primal war cry and, just for a moment, it
all looked possible.
There was one spell though, that will outlive the
tournament, just as the Donald vs Atherton encounter at Lord’s lives on in the
memory, long after the series it was part of has faded. The brutal six over
assault from Wahib Riaz in Pakistan’s quarter-final against Australia rendered
such trifles as two new balls and four-men-out utterly irrelevant. The working-over
he gave Watson was so comprehensive, so masterful, delivered with such tightly
reined ferocity, that for those 20 minutes, the balance did indeed look skewed
– the other way.
But then Rahat Ali shelled the hard-won top edge, the moment
passed, the spell was broken, and the bat was back on top.
- ends 492 words -
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