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American humorist Arnold H Glasow once said: “In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are.” He was probably referring to that odd sport played in the US that is kind of like rugby but not quite as, er, engaging. But swap football with cricket and goalposts with wickets, and his aphorism can easily relate to the gentleman’s game.
This week, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it would consider adjusting the scales of the limited-overs game in an attempt to curb the kind of bolshy batting displays we’ve become so accustomed to seeing, courtesy of heavy hitters such as AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell and Chris Gayle. The idea is to do away with the batting powerplay, which will allow the fielding side to have five fielders outside the circle, stalking the boundaries for catches, in the final 10 overs.
The ICC will deliberate over this when it meets for its annual conference in Barbados at the end of next month. But after becoming increasingly accustomed to devastatingly destructive displays with the bat, as well as high-octane, short-form cricket, will fans embrace the move towards “equitability”? If it’s at the cost of fewer runs, it’s likely the resultant brouhaha won’t be from plaudits.
Batsmen have been getting a more significant share of the spoils of late, but have bowlers been consigned to second-rate showmen? Think of the likes of Trent Boult, Mitchell Starc and Dale Steyn, who, despite the supposed swing of the pendulum out of their favour, continue to keep batsmen at bay.
The “science of bowling”, according to the Daily Maverick’s Antoinette Muller, is what bowlers should really consider when plying their trade. Muller this week came out in defence of Steyn’s miserly attitude towards participating in the upcoming Bangladesh-South Africa series. This after the Phalaborwa Express was quoted in Wisden India as saying that with “10 000 or 20 000 deliveries” left to bowl in his career, bowling some of those at lowly Bangladeshi batsmen would be a “waste” – apparently leaving the Bangladeshi public reeling in disgust.
All this aside, the Proteas will no doubt use the Bangladesh tour in July to flex their prowess as the top test side and a one-day outfit out to prove their worth.
But if the ICC ruling is effected, could it mean the end of increasingly achievable 400-plus one-day scores? I doubt AB will interpret the ruling as an impediment, but he might find it difficult to notch up those trademark totals in the final overs.
The ICC will also consider amending the treatment of no balls, to make all of them result in free hits. Whether that will be enough to keep the scales balanced in favour of the bat remains to be seen.
But in the end, it’s safe to assume that the times they are a-changin’ in the cricket world. Zimbabwe have just braved Taliban bus bombings to be the first test-playing team to tour Pakistan since 2009, a testament to the triumph of balls over no balls. And regardless of the rules and how they might change, that can’t be such a bad thing, right?
@Longbottom_69 is an armchair cricket critic. He wishes Dale Steyn were media shy, for his own sake
