Two months ago, England scored a mammoth 481 runs in an ODI game against Australia

3 reasons why batsmen are scoring heavily in limited-overs games of the modern era

Ever since the inception of T20 format, batsmen have held the upper hand over the bowlers. They have added plenty of shots in their arsenal to score a large number of runs without consuming too many deliveries.

Ad

Over the years, bowlers have slowly started to develop their bowling skills to clinch more wickets without conceding too many runs. Bowlers have started to mix their stock delivery with variations like Knuckleball, Carrom ball, and slow bouncer.

Ad

Since the inception of ODI, it took almost three decades to witness an individual score of 200 in an ODI game. Nevertheless, we have seen four 200+ knocks in the last three years alone. Fakhar Zaman of Pakistan is the latest player to join this elite list.

Ad

There are plenty of new rules like two new-balls for an innings in ODIs, free hit, are favouring the batsmen in this modern era. Apart from these rules, let us look at the other three possible reasons for batsmen scoring heavily in the current era.

Ad

Ad

#3 Bat Size

Ad
Before the Ashes 2017-18 get underway, David Warner’s T20 bat had a depth of 85mm
Ad

In the past three years or so, bat size often takes center stage whenever a player posts a big score. After so many discussions, International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced a new rule on the bat dimension, which came into active on September 28, 2017. The thickness of the edges cannot be more than 40mm, and the overall depth can be 67 mm at the most. Umpires can use a new bat gauge to check a bat’s legality.

Ad

Despite this new rule, we can still see the ball crossing the fence without meeting the sweet spot of the bat. Mistimed shots are clearing the fence very easily. It is hard for a bowler to watch a top edge from a well-directed bouncer flying over the keeper’s head for a maximum.

It is high time for the ICC to discuss this topic once again. ICC should try to reduce the thickness of the bats to ensure a proper balance between bat and ball.

#2 Batting Tracks

A pitch is the heart of a cricket match
Ad

Ever since the inception of T20, curators have started to prepare pitches (for limited-overs fixtures) in such a way that it favours the batsmen over the bowlers. To entertain the fans with high scoring thrillers, most of the teams (all over the world) are preparing tracks in this manner.

Even a tradition-loving cricket nation like England is following this norm recently. Pitches are flat in almost all of the limited-overs games played in the past two years in England. England have crossed the 400+ mark thrice in the ODIs in the last three years. Recently, they scored a mammoth 481 runs against Australia.

It is true that the fans love high scoring games. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s recent display of defending low scores in the recently concluded Indian Premier League shows us that low scoring matches can also entertain the fans.

#1 Boundary Dimensions

Holkar Stadium was the second home venue for Kings XI Punjab in this year's IPL
Ad

When boundary ropes with ad-boards over them came into existence, these ropes slowly started to shrink in size. Thus, it gave the batsmen an unfair advantage to score boundaries frequently. With the advent of T20, these boundary dimensions shrunk more.

In particular, the boundary dimensions in stadiums in New Zealand, Holkar Stadium in India (Kings XI Punjab home venue in this year’s IPL) are a graveyard for the bowlers. People in the stands can be happy to see the balls sailing over to them often. However, think from a bowler’s perspective. A catching opportunity turning into a six because of the shorter boundary dimensions is the worst thing that can happen to a bowler.

Bat sizes and tracks favouring batsmen are already a huge concern for the bowlers. With boundary sizes getting shorter and shorter, it is terrible to be a bowler.

Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download Cric Rocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more!

Ad
Edited by
Sankalp Srivastava
 
See more
More from Sportskeeda