Altus Momberg
Cape Town - The days of 'anchor men' in one-day cricket are numbered.
That is the view of Herschelle Gibbs and the Cape Cobras.
Gibbs this week expanded on the Cobras' new line of thinking when he said that a team can no longer afford players that are unable to regularly find the boundary.
“The days of one player batting through and the batsman on the other side attacking, are over,” he said.
“You now have to hit boundaries from both sides. One-day cricket has definitely changed,” added the 35-year-old Gibbs.
The Cobras will show off their new approach to supporters for the first time on Friday when they take on the Dolphins in an MTN40 match at Newlands.
“You have to put pressure on the bowlers from both sides. That is why it is so good to see that Andrew Puttick has added another dimension to his game. There are still areas in which he can improve, but he definitely has the right approach,” said Gibbs.
Puttick has already scored two centuries for the Cobras this season – one in the T20 and the other in the MTN40.
The big difference in Puttick’s batting this season is his ability to hit boundaries.
Gibbs, a veteran of 372 one-day games at international and provincial level, will definitely know what he is talking about.
He made his debut for the Western Province one-day side in 1990/91 and has experienced the dramatic changes in the shortened version of the game.
The fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs started at the World Cup in 1992, 15 months after Gibbs made his provincial debut.
Cobras coach Shukri Conrad said that players not only needed to be able to strike boundaries, but to do so off good bowling.
“That is definitely the next step. However, Herschelle is right that bowlers have to be pressurised from both sides,” said Conrad.
He added that it can already be observed how young players are adapting their styles to be able to deal with the demands of Twenty20 and one-day cricket.
“If you look at a player like JP Duminy, who has acquired the ability to hit the ball very far, you can see how the game has changed,” he said.
“A technically-correct player such as JP would not have had the ability or approach to play such big shots 10 years ago.”
Teams:
Cape Cobras:
Henry Davids, Andrew Puttick, Robin Peterson, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Ontong, Justin Kemp (captain), Stiaan van Zyl, Rory Kleinveldt, Lenert van Wyk, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Monde Zondeki, Mario Olivier.
Dolphins:
Imraan Khan (captain), HD Ackerman, Loots Bosman, Ahmed Amla, Dave Miller, Andrew Hall, Cameron Delport, Darren Smit, Johann Louw, Quinton Friend, Alfonso Thomas, Yusuf Abdulla.
Starting time: 16:30
Cape Town - The days of 'anchor men' in one-day cricket are numbered.
That is the view of Herschelle Gibbs and the Cape Cobras.
Gibbs this week expanded on the Cobras' new line of thinking when he said that a team can no longer afford players that are unable to regularly find the boundary.
“The days of one player batting through and the batsman on the other side attacking, are over,” he said.
“You now have to hit boundaries from both sides. One-day cricket has definitely changed,” added the 35-year-old Gibbs.
The Cobras will show off their new approach to supporters for the first time on Friday when they take on the Dolphins in an MTN40 match at Newlands.
“You have to put pressure on the bowlers from both sides. That is why it is so good to see that Andrew Puttick has added another dimension to his game. There are still areas in which he can improve, but he definitely has the right approach,” said Gibbs.
Puttick has already scored two centuries for the Cobras this season – one in the T20 and the other in the MTN40.
The big difference in Puttick’s batting this season is his ability to hit boundaries.
Gibbs, a veteran of 372 one-day games at international and provincial level, will definitely know what he is talking about.
He made his debut for the Western Province one-day side in 1990/91 and has experienced the dramatic changes in the shortened version of the game.
The fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs started at the World Cup in 1992, 15 months after Gibbs made his provincial debut.
Cobras coach Shukri Conrad said that players not only needed to be able to strike boundaries, but to do so off good bowling.
“That is definitely the next step. However, Herschelle is right that bowlers have to be pressurised from both sides,” said Conrad.
He added that it can already be observed how young players are adapting their styles to be able to deal with the demands of Twenty20 and one-day cricket.
“If you look at a player like JP Duminy, who has acquired the ability to hit the ball very far, you can see how the game has changed,” he said.
“A technically-correct player such as JP would not have had the ability or approach to play such big shots 10 years ago.”
Teams:
Cape Cobras:
Henry Davids, Andrew Puttick, Robin Peterson, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Ontong, Justin Kemp (captain), Stiaan van Zyl, Rory Kleinveldt, Lenert van Wyk, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Monde Zondeki, Mario Olivier.
Dolphins:
Imraan Khan (captain), HD Ackerman, Loots Bosman, Ahmed Amla, Dave Miller, Andrew Hall, Cameron Delport, Darren Smit, Johann Louw, Quinton Friend, Alfonso Thomas, Yusuf Abdulla.
Starting time: 16:30