The Age of Attack

The effect of uber-positive T20 batting styles is penetrating deeper into the game, not necessarily for the good.

Spin rules OK! Both England and India have recently capitulated against slow bowling – England in Pakistan – where Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali took 39 out of 40 England wickets to fall in the second and third Tests. And India at home against New Zealand where left arm spinner Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets in the match – having never before taken more than three wickets in a Test innings. With England twice being bowled out inside 35 overs in their second innings, and India only just surviving a total of 100 overs across both innings in Pune, batters clearly have forgotten the art of patience, as we discuss in the latest analyst podcast. That was true too in India’s embarrassing disintegration to 46 all out in the first Test, as nine out of ten batsmen were out caught (many brilliantly) to mostly ill-judged shots.

We are in the Age of Attack and if anyone thinks that’s going to change, think again. Take a look at the calendar below, laying out the short-form tournaments available across the 12 months to the world’s professional hitmen. A total of nineteen T20 (or T10) competitions, and one Hundred through the year. No month is ‘unscathed’. Don’t get me wrong I like T20 - in small doses – it has done a lot of good for the game. But surely this is overkill.

But not if you are a T20 specialist. You’d be in clover. I remember recently asking the heavily tattooed Namibian all-rounder  David Wiese if he had a tattoo for every franchise team he’d played for. “There’s not enough room on my body!” he replied, reflecting on the (at least) 21 franchises he’d represented.  He could clothe a refugee camp in his stock of team kits.

Every cricket-playing country deserves its own T20 tournament. Because many do not have players of sufficient quality to sustain a league of six or more teams, they depend heavily on a small but growing band of overseas players. This group could play virtually every day of the year if they wanted. That’s great for them and their bank balances, and boosts the standards of those leagues so that the broadcasters will continue to invest in them.

Harry Brook plays a jumping-hook during his brilliant run-a-ball 317 in Multan

But – (there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?) – this plethora of T20 is undoubtedly having an impact on batting techniques. We’ve seen the evidence in the recent Tests (where for instance in England’s second innings in Rawalpindi only two players - Joe Root and Harry Brook - managed to survive more than 25 balls against two honest, workmanlike spinners – we are not talking Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan here – on a pitch which was taking spin, but was certainly not unplayable. A Pakistani, Saud Shakeel, made a six-hour hundred on it. ) 

But the effect of T20 is not just affecting Test cricket. Its penetrating deep into the grassroots.  An experienced school coach and former first-class player reports that “the U11s in Kent are being told batting long is not what we want. 10 runs off 5 balls is what we want! And a decent U13 player at Hampton school was told he does not hit the ball as hard as Jason Roy!”  (Few do to be fair.) These may be isolated examples but you only have to watch a colts or schools match to understand the general direction of travel. Defence only exists in the NFL.

I am not campaigning for a return to the stonewallers of the 1970s. But a bit of occasional watchfulness would be good. The South Africans have acquired it from somewhere. They batted for the best part of two days in Chattogram (formerly Chittagong) and three players Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs and Wiaan Mulder recorded maiden Test hundreds. Their strike rates were 65 (de Zorzi), 70 (Mulder) and 53 (Stubbs.) That’s the Stubbs who has a strike rate of 150 in T20. So adaptions can be made for a five day game (and undoubtedly greater satisfaction can be derived.) That is if the player can find the time or inclination to play a Test match in between their T20 commitments.