The ebb and the flow

What I really want to talk about here today is the impact of the 20 over game on cricket in general, and it’s potential for the future.

First things first, the fielding. Twenty20 has vastly improved the standard of fielding in the modern game. Having watched baseball over the last couple of years I’d say that the standard of fielding in international cricket is now better than that of baseball. Ridiculous stops, slides and throws are now commonplace and all without the aid of a really big glove. The improvement in fielding started with the ODIs and the higher standard required there to put pressure on batting teams. In Twenty20 every run is vital and should be scrapped for, so the fielding standard has been ramped up a notch once again. This has contributed to fielding improving across all formats of the game. So much so that someone such as Jonty Rhodes, the renowned fielder from the late 90s South African side, would not be considered hugely exceptional in the field today.

When Twenty20 started, it seemed to herald another nail in the coffin of the art of bowling. Bowlers were seen as glorified bowling machines there to simply supply the batsmen with balls to smack out of the ground. However, you should never underestimate how much bowlers really hate batsmen. And how much we’re determined to make their lives hell. Twenty20 has advanced the skill of ‘death bowling’ that occurs in ODIs into an art form. Slow balls, the use of the yorker, also the bouncer, they are all stock weapons for bowlers who cannot rely on nagging accuracy back of a length just outside off stump to contain run rates and get wickets. Predictability is the enemy of the Twenty20 bowler. Which probably explains why spinners play such an important role in the game now. They bowl slower, meaning the batsmen cannot use the pace of the ball off the bat to reach the fence. And a canny spinner can wreak havoc through deception, flight and their old weapon of people seeing something bowled slowly and really wanting to smash it out of the ground but failing to do so. In addition, bowlers now need to learn how to bowl 6 ball spells instead of 6 over spells. The Sri Lankans have used this to decent effect and this was shown in the final, with their bowlers constantly switching around so the batsmen couldn’t settle and get used to that bowler.

Once again looking at the start of Twenty20, the fear was that batsmen would lose technique as all they would be doing was slogging. While the slog-sweep and heave over midwicket for six are key elements of a Twenty20 game, slogging does not win you matches. Punishing bad balls, taking calculated risks, rotating strike and excellent running between the wickets gets you the matches. If you look at the West Indies v England match in the groups stages you’ll see my point. The Windies hadn’t been set a massive total, but looked at one stage to be throwing it all away. 6 wickets down, their youngsters had gone out and basically tried to smash every ball they faced out of the ground from the off. What won the match for the Windies were the calm heads, good running and elegant strokeplay of Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan that steered them home in ease. Another advent of Twenty20 batting is the thought that scoring at 8 an over for 5 overs is ‘eminently doable’ (I believe I’ve used that phrase on a number of occasions). 5 years ago I’d have said you were nuts if you thought that getting 40 off 30 balls was anything but a huge ask.

Ultimately, Twenty20 is here to stay. Frankly it’s been around for ages being played by club cricketers. But there is a need to avoid overexposure of this new format. The lure of big crowds and advertising will be great for those that run the game, but cricket needs to be sensible for once. For a sport that is regarded as fundamentally conservative, cricket has tendency to embrace radical shifts over a very short period of time which then become the status quo. Twenty20 works well: it’s accessible; it’s fun; it shows the best skills of cricketers in an intense match; and is exciting, with results often still in the air when approaching the final couple of overs. Just don’t milk it too much. Keep it so that it’s still a bit special and fun, the bread and butter pudding as opposed to the bread and butter.

To the winners the spoils, to the losers...

Congratulations to Pakistan. I really thought that Sri Lanka were the nailed on favourites to walk away with the Twenty20 World Cup, but some extremely clever bowling (the wicket of Dilshan was inspired) put pressure on Sri Lanka from the off, and it was only due to a captain’s innings by Sangakarra that Sri Lanka posted a semi-decent total. Afridi was imperious with the bat for Pakistan and always in control, though a couple of tight overs at the end, especially by Malinga, meant that a couple of wickets could have made it very difficult for Pakistan. So, not the run-fest that many would have expected, but the final showed that nuance and momentum can play a role in Twenty20. And hats off to players from both countries in respect to the situations surrounding the teams and their countries. The Sri Lankan team were hideously attacked by gunmen while touring in Pakistan a few months back, and their country has recently had to endure more flare-ups in the war between government forces and the Tamil rebels, though this seems to have come to an end. Pakistan, meanwhile, have been dealing with their own internal troubles and a situation that threatens to put the country, and the entire region, into a highly unstable situation. Hopefully sport can do a small amount of good by uniting disparate groups in their support of a band of cricketers.

In addition, well done to the England Women's team for their convincing win over the Kiwis in the Women's Twenty20 World Cup. As with the men, not a run-fest, but it showed that the England team is comfortably the best in the world at all formats of the game. Not often we get to say that about any British side.

Changing currents or stormwater disruption?

In a diversion from the usual sport related topics on this blog, I’m going to take on politics today. The results are in after the European elections on Thursday and I have to admit that I was left reeling at the news that the Conservatives won the popular vote within Wales. Yes, that’s the Conservatives. Winning in Wales. Frankly I’m stunned.

To add to this, UKIP managed to beat the Lib Dems in the race for the fourth seat, leading to them seriously considering targeting seats in the Assembly. Contributing further to the shocks, the BNP party managed to get only 1000 votes fewer than the Greens. Honestly, I thought we were better than that.

As most will be aware, we in Wales are traditionally very much to the left end of the spectrum compared to other parts of the country, so for right of centre or out and out right wing parties such as UKIP to gain seats like this is a surprise. The question is whether this is a change in the political currents in Wales, or merely a muddying of the waters due to the massive stormwater runoff emanating from the Westminster expenses debacle, the economic crisis and the general implosion of the Labour party as a viable and credible political entity.

Turnout was obviously low (30% or so) but I’d be interested to see where the turnout was highest in Wales. Did traditional Labour voters in the Valleys just not turn up at the polling station, or does this represent a genuine shift to the right in Welsh politics?

Labour would have been hoping that they could rely on the Welsh vote to bolster their performance and provide some sort of salvation at the ballot box. I can only imagine how shocked they must be at this result. But what they must realise is that the Labour party that stood for election nationally is not the Labour party that the people of Wales, especially South Wales, have traditionally voted for. They are now a centre party, not even a centre-left party, and with the lack of a genuine left of centre party nationally (Plaid still put people off with the nationalist tag though their politics are generally the most in line with mainstream Welsh political beliefs), swathes of the Welsh electorate are left feeling disenfranchised.

If there is an imminent general election (Labour at the moment seem to be delaying the inevitable in that respect) then it could be that Wales will be the only place left in the UK where Labour is in power. They will have a handful of local authorities where they have overall control, where they have none in England and only two in Scotland and a power-sharing agreement in the Senedd with Plaid. Quite a shift from a decade ago where they controlled Westminster, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and many local authorities.

Croesy 3rds v Blaina Match Report

This should be on the Croesyceiliog Cricket Club Website imminently, but here it is in advance. My personal bowling figures were 10 overs, 3 maidens, 0 wickets for 27 runs. Economical as I usually am but none of the all important Ws:

This week the thirds were away at Blaina. The skipper won the toss (first time for everything!) and following last week’s sterling efforts with the ball decided to insert Blaina, reasoning the track would dry out and become easier as the day progressed. How wrong he was.

Andrew Hagger and Richie Bean opened up and kept it reasonably tight without threatening too much. Soon the batsmen settled and started to push the ball around at ease. Catches were dropped and heads went down as the afternoon progressed and the runs started to pile up. A great spell at the end by Gareth Berry (including a hat-trick) and tight bowling by Owen Hagger meant that Blaina could only add 40 from their last 10 overs, despite being at one point 200-0 and they ended with 270-5. Best bowling was Gareth with 4-64 off 10.

Obviously this would be a tall but not insurmountable run chase given the depth of the batting talent available. Unfortunately early wickets put a dent in our chances from the off, and the batsmen were unable to establish innings and build a score in the face of unthreatening but accurate bowling. Wickets continued to fall regularly with Croesy limping through to 93 all out at the end.