During the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, England pacer Stuart Broad tweeted: “400 is the new 300 in this cricket World Cup!” To certain extent that’s true as runs once thought astronomical are becoming a norm in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. With the new rules and bats coming into play scoring runs have become much easier making a bowler’s miserable. The ongoing ODI series between England and New Zealand has witnessed a heavy flow of runs. Looking at the current scenario, Suraj Choudhari lists down seven reasons on why scores in excess of 400 will soon be a regular occurrence in ODIs.
1. Batsman’s liberty to improvise
Batsmen have got more skilful than earlier but their artillery even more so, rendering the bowler helpless. Unorthodox cricket and canny improvisations by the batsmen are on a hike, most of the batsmen have the ability to score runs in all the parts of the ground. Few years back no one would have witnessed a pace bowler being hit over the fine leg boundary for a six but in contemporary cricket it does happens. AB de Villiers, on the other hand has redefined batting in his own unique way, and other batsmen are happily following the same.
2. Bowler’s restricted to 15-degree rule
It’s true that the game has no place for chuckers but the 15 degree arm-bend rule has affected many of the best bowlers. Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine are the famous examples. Not long back, both the bowlers who were ranked one and two respectively in ODIs, but they were among the many who were reported for suspect action in recent times. They proved to be less effective after remodelling their action as they stopped experimenting.
3. King-sized bats
Ten or twenty years back the size and quality of the bats were far more different. The traditional willow has now been replaced with weapons with thick blades. This increases the probability of middling the ball; hence a mistimed stroke can also help in achieving fruitful results. These days one can notice sixes being hit over the wicketkeeper’s head. With the drastic improvement in bats, mis-hits are rewarded.
4. Flat pitches, shorter boundaries and quick outfields
Placid flat batting tracks are seen around the world. In an attempt to make the game more batting friendly, the pitches are usually kept flat -the zip and bounce seems to be missing. On most of the tracks, there is neither any lateral movement off the turf nor any specific turn, thus making a bowler’s life more arduous. The outfields too are lightening quick and adding to the bowler’s woes; the length of the boundaries is also kept short.
5. Twenty20 instincts
The shortest format has changed the batsmen’s mindset. As most of the players play a lot of T20 cricket throughout the year, their style of play has changed drastically. A dot ball in today’s cricket has become like gold-dust for the bowler. Like in T20, even in ODIs, batsmen throw their bat at almost every delivery.
6. Two new balls used from both the ends
Two white balls stay hard for the entire duration of the innings, reverse swing no longer comes into play. Cricket is being marketed as a game of sixes and four. A hard ball comes much easier on the bat and travels quickly once struck by the willow. Since the ball is never more than 25 overs old, the role of the spinners also reduces.
7. Change in field restriction and powerplay rules
According to the new fielding rules, a maximum of four fielders (earlier which was five) are allowed to field outside the 30-yard circle during the non-powerplay overs. Setting a field with such limitation becomes a challenge for any skipper. The batting powerplay has to be taken before the 40th over and the batting team usually delay their powerplay till the 36th over. The slog overs which previously started from the 41st over, now by default starts five overs early.
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