I do bang on about over rates a bit here, and I thought I'd give a basic analysis of an old match to show just how dramatic the changes have been.
1929 Adelaide test, a dramatic win for England (by 12 runs) was very slow in run rate by even the standard of the time but is not mentioned as being exceptionally dull in any descriptions. The innings run rates were 1.82, 2.31, 1.90 and 2.21 (no prizes for guessing which team was slower) and Wally Hammond scored his 119* and 177 with s/rs of 31.83 and 29.35 respectively. This would be considered monumentally boring today, yet match reports have nothing to say on this. The match ended a little after lunch on the seventh day (the rest day meant it started and ended on a Friday), with 694 overs being bowled in 30.48 hours across six and a bit five-hour days, there evidently being some weather delay somewhere. That's 22.8 overs an hour, and 46.65 runs/hour. Given a modern six and a half hour day, the maximum permissible without over-rate penalties and commonly seen in Australia, that translates to a score in a day of 303, which is perfectly acceptable in the modern era.
It's when you translate it to modern over rates that the differences become apparent. The modern over rate for matches in Australia is around 13.85, teams tending to take nearly the maximum permissible time to bowl their ninety. It would take seven days and a bit over two sessions - longer than the original - to complete the match today despite days being up to one and a half hours longer, and only 184 runs would be scored a day. If the match had been completed with its original timing but modern over rates it would have taken ten entire days to complete.
There was only one genuine pace bowler (Larwood, whose fourteen pace run would be diminutive by eighties standards) and both teams relied on a spinner (Grimmett for Australia and White - who bowled 124 overs - for England) to bowl a huge number of overs. When the Bodyline series came around with three pace bowlers (although none had long runs) the balls per hour dropped from 136 to around 100, still well above today's 83. I think this shows how completely the modern game has changed. Nowadays with three bowlers running 15-20 paces, DRS, Trottesque crease marking routines, unnecessary drinks breaks and seemingly four field adjustments per over there is so much less cricket in a day. Yet the difference in scoring rates means that the perceived excitement in the matches hasn't changed all that much.
