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August 28, 2010Posted on 08/28/2010 in Bowling
The decade of the bowler?
From James Adams-Pace, United Kingdom
Has Dale Steyn helped lay the trappings of a bowling resurgence this decade?
© AFPSir Neville Cardus wrote “a true batsman should in most of his strokes tell the truth about himself.” Cardus was, indeed, right, but should have gone further: a batman’s strokes also tell the truth about the state of cricket. Applying Cardus’ logic, what do the batsmen’s strokes in world cricket today tell us? Simple: the bowlers are beginning to strike back.
It is widely agreed that, in recent years, some Test matches had become a chore to watch, mainly due to an imbalance that had grown between bat and ball. It is immaterial whether this disparity had arisen because of a lack of quality bowlers or poor pitches (or both). The truth still remained that scores of 600-5 were becoming far too familiar. It’s not that watching batsmen compile big scores is not entertaining; the problem is when you only watch batsmen compile big scores, and this was the case on a far too frequent basis. India against South Africa in Chennai in 2008 and Pakistan’s tour of India in 2007 are good examples of the negatives of batsmen-dominated Tests.
However, 2010 seems to have bucked the trend. Batsmen are not just scoring runs, they are also getting out. Test matches are not always fading into insignificance, they are getting results within four days. Pakistan’s Test series against England and Australia have provided engrossing and unpredictable contests, while England’s visit to South Africa at the beginning of the year, despite not getting results in every Test, exhibited fine displays of fast bowling. Even Sri Lanka and India in the subcontinent have managed to bowl each other out. The common factor in all these series? The prominence of the bowler.
Nonetheless, things are not perfect: India’s bowling attack currently looks slightly toothless, with a lack of quality and in-form fast bowlers, while Sri Lanka are yet to find adequate replacements for Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. Concomitantly, world spinning stocks, too, look rather depleted; aside from Graeme Swann, spinners such as Daniel Vettori and Harbhajan Singh only seem capable of containing, not taking wickets. Even so, Pakistan’s pairing of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, South Africa’s duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, and England’s James Anderson and Swann are showing that bowling has turned a corner.
This is not an attack on free-flowing centuries - far from it. The game needs Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and others to keep challenging the bowlers and scoring big tons. However, it would be a welcome change to think that the batsmen are earning their runs and that, at any minute, they could still be out. This year has provided the glimmer of hope that cricket fans have been waiting form. Maybe, just maybe, the curators and officials are beginning to understand: cricket needs bowlers to have an influence on the game. Maybe, just maybe, we are entering the decade of the bowler.
Posted by: TheBigFatFlapjack at August 28, 2010 3:03 PM
Would be nice to think this was true but maybe, just maybe, you're being a bit too quick to judge?
Posted by: Dijo at August 28, 2010 5:32 PM
Vettori and Harbhajan are only good for containing?
Posted by: Shams at August 28, 2010 11:09 PM
Conditions in England have been seamer friendly this year, apart from that everywhere else in the world run scoring has been easy this year too!
Posted by: lucent at August 29, 2010 2:06 AM
I wish you are right. A revival in bowling is the only thing that can save test match cricket from fading into oblivion
Posted by: hope at August 29, 2010 6:11 AM
I really hope so. Steyn to me has been more entertaining and valuable than any batsman going around for the past few yrs and now he is joined by Amir and others who have finally got good conditions in which to bowl. I do hope the balance shifts back to the bowlers, this past decade has been far too skewed and was beginning to bore me. @Dijo, no-1 is saying they can't take wickets, more so the writer means their new primary role seems to be containing and hoping the batsmen do something stupid, which does happen only once in a while. Compare them to Swann and u will see the big difference.
Posted by: K.P.S. Dagur at August 29, 2010 3:38 PM
Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Mohd.Aamir,Lasith Malinga and Ishant sharma ( though, struggling at present with his line and length) are the only quality fast bowlers and Swann and Vettori are the only two quality spinners around who can be effective on any kind of wicket. In the indian context, it is rather surprising that Pakistan keeps producing quality fast bowlers at regular intervals and how Ammir, so young and with slight built, is so consistent and improving all the time while Ishant, despite his hight advantage and much more experience, continue to struggle. We, in Umesh Yadav and Unadkat have a pair of emerging genuine fast bowlers, who if groomed properly, could develop into tearaway fast bowlers and they together with Ishant can form a lethal pace attack, in a very near futute. Authorities need to sit up and take note.
Posted by: Gizza at August 30, 2010 12:12 AM
I runs and wickets will become more common in Tests. So less dot balls essentially. Even if pitches stay flat and the quality of bowlers decline, these days many batsmen play Tests in a Twenty20 mindset. And the one thing bowlers actually find more enjoyable is that they get wickets more quickly. We've seen quite a few hat-tricks for example already within 6 years of T20 cricket. And this is tranfering to Tests.
This should mean less draws which would generally be considered a good thing but it also means the actual quality of cricket of perhaps going down (batsman playing too aggressively, don't have any patience). But we will see.
Posted by: jazz at August 30, 2010 2:16 PM
i agree, we bowlers are coming back!
Posted by: sanket d. at August 31, 2010 8:45 PM
bhajji is going through rough patch & it happens with every cricketer.i think after kumble sir's retirement,fans are expecting a lot from him which is fair enough but we have to give time for that,it is not easy to feel the shosse of legend like kumble sir.
@hope:we all know that swann has emerge as good genuine off spinner from last 2 years but he has to go long way.real test will start from now when batsman will start to sort out the offie.plz dont compare them.everyone goes through phases.....ashes is coming soon
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