Fitter, flatter, faster

 

MUMBAI: We could be living through the new Golden Age of cricket.

 

The first is chronicled to have been from 1890 till the first World War, when batting evolved from the simple task of putting willow to ball into strokes of precision and culture. Players like W G Grace, C B Fry, Ranjitsinhji, Gilbert Jessop and Victor Trumper, raised batting skills into an art form.

 

Batting technique is said to have reached its acme with Jack Hobbs, who was the forerunner of players like Don Bradman, Wally Hammond, George Headley, Vijay Merchant etc. From that era almost to the end of the 20th century, there has been a galaxy of great batsmen (the three Ws, Len Hutton, Hazare, May, Hanif Mohammed, Sobers, Kanhai, Gavaskar, Richards, Greg Chappell, Zaheer to name a few), but since the late 1990s, cricket — and batting specially — appears to have experienced a catharsis.

 

Evidence of this was available even in the first few years of this millennium. Writing for BBC Sports in June, 2004, Scott Heinrich highlighted ``a scoring revolution that is threatening to change the landscape of cricket forever.’’

 

His research showed that in four years since the 21st century began, 47 Test double hundreds had been scored in 222 Tests as compared to 42 in 330 Tests in the 1990s. These figures have altered considerably - and upwards — in the three years since. ``Not since the 1930s,’’ wrote Heinrich, ``when Don Bradman and Wally Hammond ensured a double would be struck every three Tests has it been such a god time.’’

 

For instance, it took 38 years for Sobers’ record score of 365 to be bettered by Lara.

 

He lost the record in a little over five years, but then took only six months to regain it from Matthew Hayden. And don’t forget he notched up a score of 400!

 

In the meanwhile, Tendulkar has become the game’s highest century-maker in Tests and one-day matches, but could lose both records to someone like the rampaging Ricky Ponting.

 

In limited overs cricket, scores of 250, which looked formidable 15 years ago, are now considered meagre. Last year Australia - the best side in the business -- lost to South Africa despite scoring 434, and only last month, lost two matches to New Zealand after scoring in excess of 300 both times.

 

The game is clearly being redefined by aggressive batsmanship, the number of fours and sixes being hit, the pace at which runs are being scored in Tests and one-dayers, the sheer volume of hundreds, the phenomenal growth in the number of `big’ hundreds.

 

Fitter, stronger players and better bats have obviously played a big role in this revolution, aided by better-prepared pitches. Concerned aficionados bemoan the plight of bowlers in this mayhem caused by batsmen, but that may be misplaced. Some of the greatest bowlers in history have also come in this era - McGrath, Warne, Kumble, Waqar, Muralitharan, Donald, Pollock.

 

Perhaps it’s to do with the growth of one-day cricket, even more perhaps to do with a new mindset that sees the game differently. More pertinently perhaps, we are in the throes of a new Golden Age in cricket.