Cricket: The Changing Game; a Cursory Glance

March 12th, 2006 marked an important day in cricket history. Australia, batting first at Johannesburg posted a (then world record) mammoth total of 434/4. Australian Captain and veteran sledger, Ricky Pointing dominated his side’s innings with a 164, supported by openers Gilchrist and Katich while Michael Hussey also scored an important 81. This total of 434 only kept its place as the highest total in ODIs for a matter of hours as a battle charged South African team did the unthinkable.

The South African chase suffered an early body blow after loosing opener, Boeta Dippenaar for 1; leaving them at 3/1 after just 1.2 overs. However, the tide swung in favour of the hosts as Graham Smith put on 90 off 55 balls while, star of the evening, Herschelle Gibbs, scored 175 of 111 balls. After a somewhat frantic finish and nervy last over, Boucher kept his cool to take his side to victory in a match that seemed to be composed entirely of a highlights reel. This was a turning point, as in the subsequent 13 years, on 19 occasions have scores over 400 been hit.

South Africa lead the table having never lost a match in which they have scored over 400, with their only successful chase coming in March 2006. India have been involved in 5 such matches being successful in 4. They had a close call in December 2009, when Sri Lanka, in their brave chase crossed the 400 mark only to reach 411/8 falling short of India’s 414/7 by 3 runs . England have crossed 400 runs 4 times, 3 of them at home, twice at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

Unsurprising, the highest number of 400+ scores have been scored in India. These flat tracks are a batsmen’s paradise. Only two of these six scores were scored by foreign teams; Sri Lanka, in their unsuccessful chase of India’s 414 and South Africa who defended their total of 438.

Its a sad tale for West Indian bowlers and West Indian Cricket in general over the last decade. Marred by off field troubles and consistent fighting between the board and players, results on the pitch haven’t helped matters as exemplified by never having scored over 400 runs in ODIs yet having conceded such a total on 4 occasions, twice within the Caribbean.

These excessively high scores would seemingly point to is the evolution of cricket,especially in ODIs which have been influenced by T20 playing batsmen and the ICC’s rule changes over the last 15 years. Sugguesting that the ICC have felt the need to alter the game in an effort to make it more palatable to new fans. This is evident when comparing strike rates over the last decades.

Since 1993 average strike rates have increased at steady and consistent rate. In innings greater than 50 balls there is a trend to score at a faster rate. From approximately a strike rate of 70 in the early 1990s to 90 presently.

In Innings over 100 balls, again a similar trend is seen. While the relationship does not produce the exact highly linear trend as in Innings >50 there is a similar increase from approximately 75 to over 90. It can be extrapolated (with some amount of massaging) that on average, centuries are being scored in almost 20 balls as less when compared to the early 1990s. This is a significant portion of the innings when thought in the context of the final 10 overs of a match.

For example, if a batsmen starts batting mid way through the match and reaches his century, rather than reaching it by the start of the 44th over he will have reached it by the end of the 39th. This provides a significant opportunity for the batting team to captalise in the final ten overs, as scoring can be difficult as 5 fielders are allowed outside of the 30 yard circle. Having balls and wickets in hand at a late stage of a match can be crucial in pushing for a higher target.

Continuing this series, next time I will examine the bowling statistics,strike rates and economies.
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