6 or 8 ball overs and now 10 balls

[Line and Length]

An over in cricket has been standardised to 6 balls for some time now. Did the change from 8 to 6 affect the balls/hour rate?

Surely the balls per hour rate must also suffer if there are more over charges in an hour.

Starfighter posted an excellent graph related to this under "Cricket Related Stuff That Doesn't Deserve a Thread" and perhaps I should be responding there.

As a bowler I played under both 6 and 8 ball over eras and much preferred the 8 ball format. It gave me more opportunity to work on a plan to dismiss a batsman. 5 or 6 "stock" balls with 2 or 3 variations in an attempt to confuse and remove a batsman. The 6 ball format seemed to limit the options.

I note that there was to have been a 10 ball over trial this year according to one article I read. This was only for T20 cricket.

Here are excerpts from that article and the source for those who might wish to read further.

"The six-ball over will be abandoned for the first time in 72 years of English domestic competition as part of the controversial new Hundred competition approved this week by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The ECB has rubber-stamped the fast-paced format, subject to county approval, in which deliveries are bowled in clutches of 10. A 10-ball "over" would be from one end - five balls by one bowler, then five by another; or all 10 by one.

Officials said they had been working with the MCC to obtain the consent over the break in tradition on over rules.

The idea is to cut down on the time taken changing ends from 19 switches in a Twenty20 match to 10 in the Hundred. It is hoped the Hundred will be a much quicker game than Twenty20, which the ECB believes will attract a new audience.

The format, likely to be introduced in 2020, is part of a new ECB five-year strategy. A handful of counties are understood to be in opposition, but the ECB insists it will broaden the game's appeal."

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...-new-english-competition-20181130-p50jan.html

 

[Starfighter]

If I can rediscover how to detrend data I might be able to provide a comparison between the six and eight ball series, but I think there'd be a lot of confounding factors, particularly with varying use of fast bowling.

I'm sure glad we don't have eight ball overs from a playing perspective. I'd have keeled over by the end even without accounting for the ludicrous number of wides I bowl.

 

[Line and Length]

In truth, the 6 ball over may well have extended my career - that and a 50% shorter run-up.

 

[cnerd123]

I've never played with anything other than 6 ball overs, unless 1 on 1 gully cricket where you keep bowling till you get the other guy out counts

Does make sense that the change in length of over would lead to a slower overrate/less balls per hour

 

[Starfighter]

that and a 50% shorter run-up.

How long was the long one?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Dropping it to 6 ball overs could have been something to save on scorecard space. There were possibly too many extras being bowled during that time...and in order to accommodate that, the scorecard-scoreboard committe proposed a change...limit the number of balls/over.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

Think it was just to achieve uniformity, though why it took until 1979 I don't know. West Indies and India never used eight-ball overs. Interestingly, Wikiland reckons England used them in seasons 1939 to 45. Obviously, most of this was war, but this scorecard from the 1st test in 1939 shows a target achieved at 17.7 overs, and the second test ending (presumably called off before the close) at 15.6 overs. Inconveniently, CrapInfo's recent redesign has removed the note saying how long the overs were.

 

[cnerd123]

Think it was just to achieve uniformity, though why it took until 1979 I don't know. West Indies and India never used eight-ball overs. Interestingly, Wikiland reckons England used them in seasons 1939 to 45. Obviously, most of this was war, but this scorecard from the 1st test in 1939 shows a target achieved at 17.7 overs, and the second test ending (presumably called off before the close) at 15.6 overs. Inconveniently, CrapInfo's recent redesign has removed the note saying how long the overs were.

is CricketArchive good for stuff like this?

 

[Line and Length]

How long was the long one?

Too long! About 20 yards in the old measurement.

 

[Line and Length]

With 6 and 8 ball overs having been used, it makes the "Maidens" an irrelevant statistic when looking at economy - a standard economy rate has been calculated which, I believe, converted 8 ball overs to a 6 ball equivalent. Regardless, many publications still include "maidens" when giving bowling details.

Memo to self: I must go over club records and check my economy rate in 68/69 and compare it with 92/93 (my first and last full seasons).

 

[Starfighter]

Too long! About 20 yards in the old measurement.

Normal junior cricket length in other words. Not that I was ever guilty...

 

[AndrewB]

Think it was just to achieve uniformity, though why it took until 1979 I don't know. West Indies and India never used eight-ball overs. Interestingly, Wikiland reckons England used them in seasons 1939 to 45. Obviously, most of this was war, but this scorecard from the 1st test in 1939 shows a target achieved at 17.7 overs, and the second test ending (presumably called off before the close) at 15.6 overs. Inconveniently, CrapInfo's recent redesign has removed the note saying how long the overs were.

England switched to 8-ball overs in all FC cricket in 1939 for a two-year trial; the second year didn't happen for obvious reasons, but it hadn't been popular in the first year so after the war they switched back to 6-ball.

Tests in the 1880s all had 4-ball overs; in the 1890s, England and S Africa had 5-ball overs, Australia 6-ball; after that the following Tests were 8-ball (everything else being 6-ball):

Australia from 1924-5 and 1936-7 to1978-9 (i.e. the Ashes series in 1928-9 and 1932-3 were 6-ball, possibly at MCC's request?)
SA from 1938-9 to 1957-8
England in 1939
NZ from 1968-9 to 1978-9
Pakistan from 1974-5 to 1977-8