Beating the bowlers of the world

By Rajadhyax

Many years back Aussie paceman Dennis Lilee came back from Pakistan a disgruntled man. The batsmen had mauled him with very few wickets to show for it. Especially the wicket at Faisalabad he termed as “the graveyard of bowlers”. But back in those days when Test cricket led the world, ODIs were not yet so famous and cricket was still free from commerce, there were barely a handful of wickets in the world where the ball came on to the bat nicely and bowlers could not get through the defences of even tailenders. Today the picture is rather different. ODIs and T20 cricket is the flavour of TV screens around the world and commerce mixes into decisions related to cricket very often. Enormous amount of money is at stake in every match.

Now it is very common to find wickets that offer absolutely no assistance to any kind of bowler and the batsmen make merry on such flat decks. In fact in countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies such wickets are routinely made for ODIs and T20 matches. When was the last time you saw a ‘green-top’ in an ODI? When was the last time you saw a ‘square-turner’ in a T20 match? And related to this is a debate that is currently raging through a better part of the cricket world. Recently in the India-Lanka series 414 runs were scored by India in the first ODI and they won by a whisker. In the next ODI India scored 301 that was rather comfortably overhauled by the Lankans. Matches like these bring the debate back in the headlines. The debate centres on just two questions. Is it fair to take the bowlers out of the equation like this? Does it harm or help the popularity of the game? Let’s try to answer both these questions as best we can.

Firstly, it’s obvious that making the bowlers a non-entity as match winners is completely unfair to the art of bowling. They toil hard to make it to the international level and to stay there and conditions not being in their favour at all is a clear case of cricketing injustice. That is not to say that under-prepared wickets must be provided where 145 is a winning score in an ODI. But there must be some juice in the wicket that at least the better bowlers can exploit if they land the ball in the right places. There can be wickets, like at Perth or at Edgbaston that are a bit sportive. Or at least wickets like the one at Eden Garden in Kolkata or the one at Dunedin where bowlers do have a chance to turn a match on its head. We are talking about a wicket that offers good bounce and ‘carry’ in the first hour of the game and may be turns a bit towards the last hour.

It may not be easy making such wickets but the effort has to be done. Grounds-men at venues that offer sporting wickets must be taken around the world by ICC to explain to their counterparts. Better wickets that give an even balance to the game are needed. Good batsmen will still make runs on such wickets but at least the game will not be one-sided. It should not be a walk-in-the-park for batsmen as they pile up record after record cementing their places in the teams.

But then there is also the other question about the fame of the game. Admittedly, there are a few guys in the stadium who come just to watch towering sixers and racing boundaries scored by batsmen at the drop of a hat. They don’t mind bowlers being battered to pulp even by Harbhajan Singhs and Brett Lees of the world. But do such fans make the popularity of the whole world of cricket? Perhaps not! And if they do then we need to educate them into appreciating a more balanced view of cricket. Even an ODI where the side batting first scores 220 and the side batting second comes precariously close in the chase is a very exciting match. It will give high ratings to the TV channels and bring in sponsorships. Great catches or flying stumps are as spectacular as a big six. We need not assume all cricket lovers and sponsors to be dumb adults who come exclusively to see the bowlers murdered every match. You can always drop one batting wicket in a rare case just to add spice while keeping all other wickets sportive.

Most importantly, commerce should compliment cricket and not dominate it inside-out. The decision to prepare the wicket must be in the interest of the game and not merely in the interest of TV companies, sponsors or some fans paying ticket money only to watch 300-plus scores. And if it’s not going to be done, then one day you could have a game where no bowlers are taken in the match and bowling machines are installed instead! Sounds scary, but that is the direction we are taking by make batting friendly wickets match after match. Keeping the hope alive, let’s expect that better sense will prevail. There would be matches won mainly due to the prowess of the bowlers and batsmen will have to work very hard to save the game. Let’s hope for bowlers too to have a good time in cricket.