Wickets in hand worth more than early runs (10 May 1999)

10 May 1999

Wickets in hand worth more than early runs

Mike Atherton

Arjuna Ranatunga, Mohammad Azharuddin, Hansie Cronje and Wasim Akram are the only surviving captains from the last World Cup. Whether this will be of much advantage, however, is doubtful, as conditions this time will be as different as the tactics they will need to employ if they are to lift one-day cricket's ultimate prize.

England's opening game in the last World Cup was at Ahmedabad. The game began at an ungodly hour, with the dew still heavy on the outfield. The pitch had early-morning dampness, but was also cracked and dusty brown in colour and, as the sun rose and burnt away the haze, swarms of flies became a constant irritation. This time around it will be the reigning champions who will have to cope with the more alien conditions: the seam movement, the dampness and the rarefied atmosphere of Lord's in May, where the only irritations are found, occasionally, in the pavilion.

In the last World Cup the Sri Lankans stole a march on everybody by their brilliant and daring exploitation of the first 15 overs, where fielding restrictions enabled Sanath Jayasuriya in particular to destroy all but the best of the tournament's opening bowlers. The restrictions will still be in place but early-season dampness and the white ball may combine to give the bowlers more of a fighting chance this time around.

On the sub-continent, scoring became more difficult as the innings progressed. The pitches tended to get slower; the white ball became soft and got scuffed, encouraging the exponents of reverse swing. In early-season England (unless we get a sudden heatwave), dampness is likely to make batting more difficult at the start, the lushness of the outfields will not encourage reverse swing and with the Duke-made white ball, in my experience, staying hard, all indications are that scoring ought to get easier as the innings progresses.

For that reason, while every team will approach the first 15 overs with a positive intent, wickets in hand will prove just as important. If there is to be an explosion it is likely to come in the second half of the 15 overs, once the batsmen have negotiated the early salvoes. In Sharjah David Lloyd was worried that England were not, in his words, "buying in" to the early overs. What is more important is that Alec Stewart and Nick Knight recapture their best form. Both are dangerous one-day players and if they play well they will score quickly enough. I would like to see Knight worry less about his technical shortcomings and go for a policy of all-out aggression as I think he plays better that way.

While flexibility is important in one-day cricket, generally I think players like to know what is expected of them and feel settled in their role. For that reason, England should not meddle too much with the order: Graeme Hick should go in at three and the top order should shoulder the responsibility to make the runs required. I hope the temptation to open with Andrew Flintoff is resisted, as all his success for Lancashire has come in the middle order, but if the overs were ticking away there should be no hesitation in promoting him. Indeed, if there is experimentation to be done it is in this middle third of the innings where teams seem to drift, often losing momentum.

During the last World Cup teams packed the batting, picking their three or four best bowlers and looking to 'fill in' 10 overs with a batsman who bowled. Pretty ordinary bowlers such as Keith Arthurton or Salim Malik were getting away with three or four overs, as taking the pace off the ball was often a good ploy. In England this will not be the case and the teams with the least weak link in the bowling line-up will prosper. If, as we expect, scores are slightly lower than last time, with anything around 230-240 being extremely competitive, captains will want five front-line bowlers to defend a total.

Certainly this has been the basis for Lancashire's success this decade in one-day cricket. There is no weak link in the bowling attack, although admittedly all the bowlers can bat a bit, providing the necessary balance. England should not worry about the batting down the order and it would be folly to sacrifice a bowler for the extra batsman. Flintoff and Hick are good enough sixth, but not fifth bowlers.

Spin, while not playing the pivotal role it played on the sub-continent, will still be important. It will be the more orthodox spinners who may struggle to emulate their success of four years ago. Sri Lanka, for example, may well find that their orthodox finger spinners are ineffective in support of Muttiah Muralitharan. The top-class and mostly unorthodox spinners - Warne, Kumble, Saqlain and Muralitharan himself - will still reap their just rewards.

Captains and coaches will have a role to play off the pitch. They should be clear in explaining the roles expected of players, although this should have been sorted out in the build-up. Teams play against each other so often now that the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition ought to be ingrained in each captain's mind.

With the retirement of Mark Taylor there is no captain who stands out ahead of the rest. During the tournament, however, somebody will emerge who displays that crucial touch of flair to change a game and win it for his team. In one-day cricket it is too easy to get sucked into a defensive mentality - but it is the captains who stay in an aggressive frame of mind, who can engineer the important wicket or pressurise the batsmen into a mistake in mid-innings who will stay ahead of the pack. Taking wickets is always the best way of restricting the flow of runs.

Teams will want to hit their straps early on. This is especially important for England, who find themselves entering the tournament on a run of defeats. An early victory can change all that and quickly get a team on a roll. Equally, there will be no mileage in resting players once qualification for the super six round has been achieved, as points are carried forward. This system should favour the teams who play consistently, who are injury-free and fit enough to last the distance. Could it be that South Africa will finally throw off the bridesmaid's tag?

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)