A throwback to classical Cricket – Opinion
There were times in ODI cricket where a score of 250 would prove to be a formidable challenge and an uphill task. Individual contributions of 25 and 40 by a batsman to ensure that his side gets to a score which poses a significant threat, was considered
to be divine and indispensable for any team. Then, during the second half of play, the skills of the bowlers would be tested to the very core. A side managing to defend the target and ensuring victory, would be considered as a romantic way to end the game.
Sadly, those times have well and truly gone. An egalitarian knot between the bat and the ball has subsided to the point of pitches being tailor made for batsmen and scores being plundered with inelegant ease. Tournaments such as the 1999 Cricket World Cup
were considered to be throwbacks to the romantic age, where games could have been won and lost by good bowling, proper batting and brisk fielding. South Africa, under http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wessel-Johannes-Cronje-c96502, did just that in that tournament, with many of their games being won by bowling
out the oppositions and fielding with ease. Batting super powers such as India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749, with an array of top quality batsmen such as Jayasuriya and Tendulkar failing to succeed beyond the dustbowls of
the subcontinent.
For lesser hyped, balanced teams, such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at Cardiff.
In both cases the fielding and bowling aspect of the game came to the fore. The Kiwis would always give themselves a chance if they scored 240 runs and Zimbabwe’s fielding was a treat to watch against oppositions such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and South Africa.
Other sides who have had an unpredictable link in their team, managed to perform with immense skill in the 1999 World Cup, such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. Their 10-run win over Australia in the Group Stage of the game ironically coincided with a dismal batting performance
in the World Cup Final.
Those were the days when cricket was evenly contested, yet sadly, with the recent conclusion of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the charm of watching an evenly contested game has almost completed waned off into the distance. If India could lose a group game
to South Africa by posting 296 on the board then where does that leave the bowling dimension of the game? Surely, with 296 on the board at Sharjah in 2001, the fielding side could easily gnaw their way back into the game even on a flat deck. Those times seem
to be well and truly gone.
It is a sad tale for the inventors of cricket, who pioneered concepts such as the seam on the leather coating of the ball, along with a willow with edges to provide a keenly contested game. For them, it was never a case of scoring brazenly and then expecting
to lose the game with the opposition having an array of batsmen at their disposal as well. The 438 game between Australia and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 at the Wanderers Stadium in 2006 was a prime example of batsmen depositing the balls out of the park, yet contrary to
popular belief; something was there for bowlers as well, who were willing to innovate. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nathan-Bracken-c2068 went on to pick up five wickets for 67 runs in that game.
The sad reality is that the ability to move the soul and generate ‘oohs and aahs’ continues to evade the gentleman’s game in consumerist times. The classical observer would definitely be wondering whether a tournament such as the 1999 Cricket World Cup would
ever embrace the field again. For now, one must be content with the IPL or the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20.
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