Should long-stops be introduced in ODI cricket?

[Smudge]

First to really bring Powerplay-over over-the-top hitting to prominence was Greatbatch and whoever his partner was in 1991/92

Rod Latham (for the most part)

 

[Burgey]

England did it with Botham in the 80s as well. IIRC he opened in that tourney in Perth in 86-87 they had with the America's Cup.

 

[Richard]

I certainly remember him opening in the 1991/92 World Cup, with minimal success. Wouldn't be surprised if he'd done it before, but I don't think he did it long-term or in any global tournaments (the 1991/92 WC was the first to involve Powerplays).

 

[Son Of Coco]

I think if you're going to resort to a long stop then you should consider having a chat to your bowler first and suggest he bowls in areas that don't allow the batsman to paddle it over the keeper's head. If it's that much of a concern drop the keeper back there.

 

[Richard]

Areas which don't allow the batsman to scoop it are notoriously difficult to find. Can you think of any (short of past leg-stump, which of course is a wide)?

 

[Furball]

Areas which don't allow the batsman to scoop it are notoriously difficult to find. Can you think of any (short of past leg-stump, which of course is a wide)?

Reckon it would be hard to scoop if if you're dealing with 90mph missiles aimed at your toes.

 

[Streetwise]

Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana another very pertinent example.

First to really bring Powerplay-over over-the-top hitting to prominence was Greatbatch and whoever his partner was in 1991/92 (Powerplays had already been around for over a decade before then but that was the first time they were used in a global competition and worldwide beaming of matches not involving your own side was still in its infancy at that stage - so the 1991/92 WC was the first time it really struck everyone simultaneously that someone was deliberately using the tactic of going for it in the first 15). But everyone remembers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana for it.

G Greenidge was the first player I watched who hit over the top at the beginning of the innings, some of his innings in the late 70's and early eighties would not look out of place in todays cricket. people forget how intimidating this man was opening the batting.

Batting ave 45 strike rate 65 and 11 hundreds.

 

[Richard]

Reckon it would be hard to scoop if if you're dealing with 90mph missiles aimed at your toes.

I wonder. I'd have to examine the dimensions involved. The scoop of course is an entirely premeditated shot - you've no hope of playing it after seeing the ball, same way you don't when you play a sweep off the seamers.

 

[Richard]

G Greenidge was the first player I watched who hit over the top at the beginning of the innings, some of his innings in the late 70's and early eighties would not look out of place in todays cricket. people forget how intimidating this man was opening the batting.

Batting ave 45 strike rate 65 and 11 hundreds.

Yet for the most part, Greenidge did not play in matches which involved Powerplays. The only time they were used until the early-1990s was in ODIs in Australia.

 

[Streetwise]

Yet for the most part, Greenidge did not play in matches which involved Powerplays. The only time they were used until the early-1990s was in ODIs in Australia.

He was quite good at getting the WI off to a quick start hitting over the top, at the time 75 runs from the first 15 overs was amazing and you felt he put the game out of reach in the first 15 overs.

 

[Richard]

I'm sure he was good at hitting over the top, but outside Australia, there was nothing stopping fielding captains from putting the field back in the opening over if he felt he needed to. That was until the 1991/92 World Cup, and later in some countries.

 

[andyc]

Reckon it would be hard to scoop if if you're dealing with 90mph missiles aimed at your toes.

YouTube - SW Tait to BB McCullum

 

[Son Of Coco]

Areas which don't allow the batsman to scoop it are notoriously difficult to find. Can you think of any (short of past leg-stump, which of course is a wide)?

I'd like to see a batsman scoop it from yorker length (I'll add on or just outside off stump after seeing the above video )

Tait's delivery was a little full and swinging down leg.

I'd think you have to get it up and outside off stump if a guy has been doing this sort of thing. It's got to be more difficult to do the more the batsman has to angle the bat sideways surely. Then put in a third man who's fine and hope for the best. Very simple in theory...

 

[vic_orthdox]

I'm sure he was good at hitting over the top, but outside Australia, there was nothing stopping fielding captains from putting the field back in the opening over if he felt he needed to. That was until the 1991/92 World Cup, and later in some countries.

It is still a legitimate tactic that would have reaped benefits even without fielding restrictions. By pushing the field back, you get easier access to singles early in your innings, and makes it easier for guys coming in later who are more likely to enter to more defensive fields.

Just because there wasn't powerplays in place doesn't mean that it was a tactic without similar logic.

 

[Richard]

I'm not saying it wasn't a legitimate tactic (did it really look like I was?), merely that hitting over the top of a field that is voluntarily in and hitting over the top of a field that is in because the regulations state it must be are two rather different things.

 

[Richard]

I'd like to see a batsman scoop it from yorker length (I'll add on or just outside off stump after seeing the above video )

I'd say it's easier to scoop such deliveries than to play most other shots. As a rule, that delivery is just about realistically impossible to score more than a single\two-if-you're-lucky off. That's why it's the ultimate death delivery.

However, almost no bowlers have ever been able to bowl such pinpoint deliveries as you identify with enough regularity. Wasim, de Villiers, Gough, Donald and a few others could, but that's about it.

 

[Streetwise]

I'm not saying it wasn't a legitimate tactic (did it really look like I was?), merely that hitting over the top of a field that is voluntarily in and hitting over the top of a field that is in because the regulations state it must be are two rather different things.

IMO it was because of Greenidge the rule came in, because he was willing to hit over the top in the first few overs (this is in Aus) teams who were used of slower starts and having the fielders up realised they had to put fielders back on the ropes to counter his hitting. It got to the point where teams (mainly Aus) would go on the defensive almost immediately to slow him down.

 

[GotSpin]

Nothing wrong with a bit of aggression on the field IMO

 

[Richard]

IMO it was because of Greenidge the rule came in, because he was willing to hit over the top in the first few overs (this is in Aus) teams who were used of slower starts and having the fielders up realised they had to put fielders back on the ropes to counter his hitting. It got to the point where teams (mainly Aus) would go on the defensive almost immediately to slow him down.

The rule was brought in because it was an idea of David Hill's to up viewing figures for WSC, UIMM. The Australian board then copied the idea, introducing it into their home ODIs after the post-WSC restoration, because it seemed like it had worked in WSC.

It only came into Worldwide use in 1991/92 because, in the World Cup, it was finally demonstrated on a global scale that it made the game more interesting. Not long after that World Cup, ODIs were govorned by a universal set of ICC-set rules, rather than by the home board.