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Two weeks ago, as South Africa disappointingly lost a three-match T20 international series against Australia at home ahead of the ICC World T20, I mentioned something about the Proteas being more than competent in chasing and setting targets, but not great when it comes to defending their scores.
This became all too clear in their opening match of the T20 against England last week when they posted a mammoth 229/4 – only to be undone by the skilful Joe Root and company, who chased it down and, in doing so, recorded the second-highest successful run chase in the short history of cricket’s shortest format.
By now it’s probably common knowledge that the best way to beat South Africa, or any team for that matter, in a T20 match is to win the toss and bowl. This, because even an excellent batting line-up such as the Proteas’ cannot do much in the face of being at the short end of pure, blind luck; and, by extension, a thick piece of pounding willow.
As the cricketing world is gripped by the International Cricket Council spectacle on the subcontinent, this led me to think about the T20 format and how it would appear that the outcomes of most matches are determined more by luck – ie, the toss – than skill, determination and all the other things that go with being good at sport.
It is probably the reason T20 is punted as the most entertaining format of the game, with the most money involved, and with the emphasis placed squarely on the advertising boards around the boundary ropes rather than what’s going on with the bowlers.
Of the 11 matches played in the first week of the “super 10s” stage of the world T20, six were won by the team bowling first. Although 54.5% may seem like a more or less even ratio of success in batting first to bowling first, I would say the 9% difference in favour of the chase is what makes all the difference in pressure matches, indicating the dice are loaded in favour of the razzle-dazzle when the umpteenth six clears the ropes and lands squarely on the lap of some Bollywood tycoon-turned-cricket-wallah.
There has even been a lot more said about the bats players are using. Just a few days ago, the BBC ran an intriguing online documentary about a little-known town in northern India called Meerut, which “is home to factories that produce thousands of cricket bats every day”.
No surprise, then, that the channel promoted the doccie on Twitter during world T20 matches with the tagline: “The bats are taking a pounding today! Take a trip to Meerut to see how they’re made.”
It’s a clever piece of reportage, largely because of the timing; but it is also telling with regard to the one-sidedness of T20 cricket – specifically in relation to the game favouring the winner of the toss, which, in turn, ultimately favours batting.
The poor bowlers out there must really be doubting their career choice and are probably feeling that, if this situation persists, they will soon be replaced by bowling machines. Either that, or they will hopefully adapt more appropriately – in the same way batsmen have with their Dilscoops, reverse-ramp shots and whatnot.
For the sake of the game, regardless of the format, I sincerely hope it’s the latter that prevails.
@Longbottom_69 is an armchair cricket critic. He has never been a gambling man, but he’s always been game when it comes to the toss
