Was Jim Higgs an unsung hero to Shane Warne’s greatness?

January 21, 2015

If you’re under the age of 35, you may not have heard of Jim Higgs, but older Roarers or cricket history buffs will know that Higgs was a very capable leg spinner for Victoria and Australia.

Personally, I started following cricket from the late 1980s, which by then, Higgs’ career was well and truly over.

So without seeing him play, I had to rely on doing some research on the web.

Higgs played for Victoria between 1970-1983. He collected 399 first-class wickets at an average of 29.66 in 122 matches. He played 22 Tests for Australia from 1978-1981, taking 66 Test wickets at a respectable average of 31.16, including two five-wicket hauls.

On ESPNcricinfo, respected cricket journalist Gideon Haigh described Higgs as “Australia’s best legspinner between Richie Benaud and Shane Warne”.

From that summation, it appeared that Higgs was superior in quality compared to Terry Jenner, Kerry O’Keefe, Bob Holland and Trevor Hohns.

Haigh also added “his misfortune was to play at a time when wrist-spin was nearly extinct, thought to be the preserve only of the eccentric and the profligate, and so to find selectors and captains with little empathy with his guiles”.

As such, it probably wasn’t the right era for a leg spinner, hence affecting Higgs’ career. Judging by his statistics, Higgs deserved more of an opportunity in the baggy green.

Higgs made his Test debut for Australia against the West Indies in Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1978 at the height of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. As such, the Australian Test side didn’t have the availability of any of the greats involved in what some scribes called ‘the Packer circus’.

Higgs began his Test career with a second-rate Australian side, while the West Indies had their WSC players in their line-up and were at full strength. Predictably, the Windies won the Test by an innings and 106 runs.

However, Higgs wasn’t overawed by the occasion, taking 4/91 off 24.5 overs. In his debut Test series, he took 15 wickets at 25.

Australia versus India, third Test, Sydney 1981 – India second innings

In his overall Test career, Higgs acquitted himself very well against the West Indies, England and New Zealand. The one country that he found great difficulty was India, where he averaged 47.

Higgs played his final Test against India in 1981 at the age of just 30. He ended his first-class career only a couple of years later in 1983. He retired at an age where the best years of a spinner were still yet to come.

A few years after his retirement from cricket, Higgs became national Test selector. But something even more significent was to occur.

Shaun Graf, captain/coach of Victorian club side St Kilda, called Higgs. He was asking for his assistance with a young leg-spinner by the name of Shane Warne. Would Higgs teach him how to bowl the flipper?

In the initial stages, young Warne couldn’t control the delivery, to the point where many went over the back of the net. But later on, as we all know, Warne did master the delivery with devastating effect, in no small part thanks to Higgs.

Another ex-Test leg-spinner who helped in Warne’s development was Terry Jenner. He taught Warne the top-spinner and other variations with leg spin bowling. It would become the start of a long working relationship between Jenner and Warne.

While at the AIS cricket academy, founding head coach Jack Potter helped Warne with new modifications in the art of leg spin.

When Warne was selected for the Test side, the selection panel included Higgs and John Benaud, the younger brother of legendary leg-spinner and commentator Richie. No doubt, both had faith in Warne, especially after Warne’s difficult debut against India where he finished with match figures of 1/150.

A couple of months later, Warne finished the Sheffield Shield season as 12th man for Victoria.

But Higgs and Benaud gave Warne more opportunities to shine at Test level. Eventually, less than a year later, we started to see Warne’s first glimpses of greatness in a Test match against Sri Lanka.

Before the second innings of that Test, Warne had career figures of 1/335.

Chasing a small total of 181, Sri Lanka were cruising at one stage at 2/127. But Greg Matthews and Warne turned the match in Australia’s favour. Matthews picked up four wickets, while Warne took 3-0 in 11 balls to seal victory for Australia by 16 runs.

It would be the start of a long, successful career for Warne, which yielded over 700 Test wickets.

For many years, Jenner was the man who was credited publicly for mentoring Warne’s career, and rightly so. But other men behind the scenes contributed to the makings of the legend. Graf, Potter and Higgs all played a part and all should be recognised for their work.

Why is Jim Higgs the unsung hero to Warne’s greatness? Higgs coached Warne the flipper, which gave Warne so many Test wickets, particularly in the early part of his career.

My assumption of Higgs as a selector is he continually backed Warne’s ability as a leg spinner – something that was missing from the selectors during Higgs’ playing days. A leg-spinning selector knowing what a leg spinner is going through provides a valuable insight and knowledge on any selection panel. In the end, Higgs was justified.

Since Warne retired in 2007, a dozen or so spinners have been selected and tossed out of the Australian side. If those selectors were around during Warne’s early Tests, he may have had a completely different path in cricket history.

Terry Jenner played a huge part in Warne’s success. But in many ways, Higgs deserves to be on the same level as Jenner.

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Imagine if Terry Alderman was an Englishman

Cricket

August 7, 2015

Recently, England spearhead James Anderson achieved two milestones. Firstly, he overtook Ian Botham’s tally of 383 Test wickets to become the record holder for most wickets held by an England bowler.

The second milestone was reaching 400 Test wickets. The Burnley-born swing bowler from Lancashire has had a great career to date and at 33, Anderson’s career is far from finished.

However, if a certain Australian bowler, by pure fantasy was an Englishman, would Anderson still be chasing the English record for most Test wickets.

The Australian bowler I’m referring to is Western Australia’s medium fast bowler from the 1980s, Terry Alderman. Alderman was known as the ‘king of swing’, whose off cutters and outswingers often caused the downfall of many batsman, particularly when conditions were suited to swing bowling.

Alderman made his debut Test series against England in England in the 1981 Ashes series. And what an entrance he made. Alderman took a phenomenal 42 wickets at an average of 21.26 over six Tests. His first Test wicket was the stubborn Yorkshire great Geoff Boycott.

Alderman formed a deadly bowling partnership with fellow sandgroper and Australian legend, Dennis Lillee. DK claimed 39 wickets at 22.30.

Between them, Alderman and Lillee grabbed 81 wickets (out of a possible 120) at an average of 21.76. Yet despite their best efforts, Australia lost the ’81 Ashes series 3-1 in remarkable circumstances, thanks mainly to an English allrounder by the name of Ian Botham. The series was to be known as ‘Botham’s Ashes’.

When Australia toured England in 1985, Alderman was a notable absentee, as he was participating in the rebel tour of South Africa and subsequently was banned from playing Test cricket for three years.

However, under captain Allan Border, Alderman was back in the Australian side for the 1989 Ashes series in the UK.

The swing bowler, who had a habit of smiling in his bowling run up, once again had a brilliant Ashes series.

He tormented the England batsmen with 41 wickets at a very low average of 17.36, which included a staggering 6 five-wicket hauls, and in the process, made a mess of Graham Gooch’s immediate Test career at the time. Australia won the ’89 Ashes series by obliterating England, 4-0.

Overall, in 12 Ashes Tests in England, the smiling assassin took 83 wickets at an excellent 19.33. Alderman’s overall Test career reads 170 wickets @ 27.15 from 41 matches.

Now imagine if Alderman played for England?

The overcast weather conditions and soft English pitches would have been heaven for the Western Australian.

Alderman’s medium fast stump to stump bowling and accuracy, would produce prodigious swing, where some of the deliveries were just unplayable. The only way the batsman would survive, is to play those unplayable deliveries late…..very late, hence the difficulty of survival.

As an ‘Englishman’, could Alderman have taken 40 wickets for every English summer for ten years or more? Maybe not, but you dare to fantasize. Imagine an England bowling attack in the early eighties of Willis, Botham and Alderman?

It might have been an attack that could’ve Tested the might of the West Indies. And Alderman may have become the first England bowler to reach 400 Test wickets and set an even loftier target for Anderson and co. to chase.

But we will never know.

When you fast forward to Australia’s current bowling line up, there is a lack of a genuine swing bowler to appease to the English conditions.

The two Mitchells, Johnson and Starc, are fast bowlers with a bit of waywardness from time to time, while Hazlewood is a tall bowler who bowls in the line and length type category.

While the rest of the squad consists of young injury-prone tear away fast bowler in Pat Cummins and an honest toiler in Peter Siddle.

Six years ago in 2009, there were high hopes for Tasmanian’s own swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus to have similar success like Alderman in the past. In that series he captured 22 wickets at 27.45. Solid, but not good enough, as England won the ’09 Ashes 2-1.

In that series, Hilfenhaus bowled with two much width, and bowled too much on both sides of the wicket. Didn’t bowl accurate stump to stump (which was Alderman’s trademark) to allow for more swing.

Perhaps in the future, Australia should pick South Australia’s outswing bowler Chadd Sayers.

In his overall first class career, Sayers has 129 wickets @ 24.69. Not bad considering he plays half of his cricket on a batting paradise like the Adelaide Oval.

In last year’s Shield season, Sayers, missed the second half of the season due to an inflammation of his left ankle which required surgery. That was a setback for Sayers with regards to a possible Ashes selection.

Australia needs to find another Terry Alderman in order to have future success in the old dart. He doesn’t need to be a quick bowler. But someone who is accurate and intelligent enough to take advantage of any helpful conditions.

England may be proud of Anderson, but Australian cricket fans should not take for granted what Alderman has achieved in his career.

If anything, we are grateful that Alderman was an Australian.

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Could Lehmann reverse the West Indies decline?

Cricket

April 8, 2014

Australian coach Darren Lehmann has been lauded for turning around Australia’s fortunes in the Test arena, with series wins over England and South Africa lifting Australia to second in the Test rankings after hovering around fourth and fifth before his tenure.

Prior to his appointment as an Australian coach, Lehmann enjoyed success in domestic competitions in both the long and short formats of the game. As coach, he has won trophies in the IPL, Big Bash League and Sheffield Shield.

Not bad for someone who has only been coach for around half a decade.

So why is Lehmann, the man they call Boof, so successful as coach?

Lehmann has brought some old fashion values back into the Test side, one of which is brutal honesty. When Lehmann and the selectors dropped pace mainstay Peter Siddle from the final Test in South Africa, the reason was clear – he wanted Siddle to bowl around the 140kph mark, not the 130s that he was hitting.

Lehmann has scrapped the rotation policy in Test matches, as was evident in the Ashes series where Australia picked the same eleven for five consecutive matches. And Lehmann has picked form players regardless of their age, in the case of the two 36-year-olds in Brad Haddin and Chris Rogers.

Lehmann also wants his sides to be balanced by having an all-rounder, giving the fast bowlers a breather and taking the pressure off the spinner. Lehmann has also surrounded himself with the right personnel in his coaching stuff, such as Craig McDermott and Mike Young.

Although having said all that, not everything Lehmann has touched has turned to gold.

The inclusion of young offie Ashton Agar in the England Ashes series last year was puzzling, especially when you consider that Agar only had a handful of first-class matches to his name. They also had Nathan Lyon in the squad, who just a couple of months earlier took a Test five-for against India in India.

And of course, Australia’s below-average showing in the recent World T20 where Australia only managed one win out of four matches. In effect, Australia were knocked out in their second match with a defeat against the West Indies.

Speaking of the West Indies, they have been successful in the shorter formats of the game in recent times by winning the same tournament in 2012. But when it comes to Test cricket, the Windies haven’t been a force since 1995 when Australia defeated them to claim the Frank Worrell Trophy.

Since that 1995 series loss to Australia, the West Indies have taken part in 58 Test series over the past 19 years. The Windies have won only 17 Test series, with seven drawn series and 34 series defeats. Out of those 17 series wins, eight of them have come by beating minnows Bangladesh (four) and Zimbabwe (4four)

In that time, the Windies have not beaten Australia or South Africa in a Test series. The West Indies Test ranking has hovered around seventh or eighth, with just Bangladesh and Zimbabwe behind them. It’s such a shame for a cricketing powerhouse that ruled the world from the late 1970s right through to the mid 1990s.

It was an era that was dominated by a wonderful group of players; from batting maestros in Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, to fast bowling firebrands in Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose.

To not see any players of that ilk be produced since is just depressing for many cricket fans. Much has been made about the West Indian cricket infrastructure with regards to producing young players, and also losing promising talent to other sports such as basketball and athletics. It’s certainly another article for another day with regards to grassroots cricket in the West Indies.

The West Indies need something to stop their downward spiral in Test cricket. Maybe they could hire Lehmann as coach when his stint is up with Australia, and his coaching staff as well?

With the bevy of West Indian fast bowling greats, it’s a mystery that not one of them has emerged as a fast-bowling coach similar to McDermott and Allan Donald for Australia and South Africa respectively.

One thing the West Indies cricket board could consider is to hire a couple of batting coaches from South Africa – one for the Test squad, while the other would oversee the batting in first-class teams in the domestic West Indies competition.

Why a batting coach from South Africa? Since the West Indian decline, South Africa have produced world-class batsmen who are capable of both attack and batting out two days for a draw if necessary.

Another thing the West Indies cricket board could do is produce pitches that help develop fast bowlers and batsman. In recent years, Caribbean pitches have been similar to those in the subcontinent – dry. It has helped produced spinners like Shane Shillingford and Sunil Narine, but there needs to be balance with the pitches.

I’d like to see the West Indies produce a couple of pitches similar to the Gabba – a good wicket for fast bowlers with plenty of bounce and carry to the keeper. The ball comes onto the bat very well, and you get full value for your shots.

The spinners would enjoy good turn and bounce, so it’s pitch for everyone to develop all of their skill sets. In my opinion, it’s the best pitch in the world.

If Lehmann ever took over, he would have a nucleus of a side to work with. Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Shillingford and Kemar Roach are players that should be in the Windies Test XI. The challenge for Lehmann, or anyone else for that matter, is to fill the other spots and take the West Indies away from the basement in Test cricket.

Test cricket needs a strong West Indies. If there’s one coach who could turn it all around, it would have to be Boof.

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Let’s get real: is Vernon Philander overrated?

Cricket

March 7, 2014

When Australia began its Test series against South Africa, one of the intrigues was how Australia’s often much-maligned batting line-up would fare against South Africa’s bowling attack.

The South African side contained the two best fast bowlers in the world, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

Steyn, the number one ranked bowler in the world, took six wickets in the opening Test, but he didn’t prevent Australia going one up.

Centuries from Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, David Warner and a brutal 12-wicket haul to Mitchell Johnson ensured an Australian victory.

However, in the second Test Steyn ripped through Australia’s batting order in the second innings with 4/55, courtesy of reverse swing, therefore levelling the series.

In the third and final Test, after bowling just 10 overs in the first innings, a hamstring injury sidelined Steyn for the rest of the innings.

In the second innings, Steyn only bowled three overs.

Injury did ruin Steyn’s effectiveness in the deciding Test.

He picked up 12 wickets at an average of 26.41 in the series.

It makes you wonder what might have been if injury hadn’t struck.

In contrast, Steyn’s partner in crime Philander had an ordinary time.

Prior to this series, Philander was ranked the number two in the world and was a bowler to be feared.

Three Tests later, Philander’s reputation has been lowered.

He took only seven wickets at an average of 51.71.

Ouch! A far cry from his career average of 18 before the series.

Sure, Philander has only played 23 Tests and, as such, it is not a big sample size to judge a player’s career.

Philander’s hugely disappointing series was one of the key reasons why South Africa got beaten by Australia, particularly in the first and final Tests.

Looking through Philander’s short time in Test cricket, the one country that has given him trouble is Australia.

Philander, in seven Tests, has taken 25 wickets at 30.24, ten runs higher compared to his career average of 20.11.

The nearest country that provides Philander “some” trouble is England, against whom he has taken 12 wickets at 23.66.

Philander isn’t the only bowler in Test cricket history that has had trouble with one “bogey” side.

Legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne had an awful time against India.

In his career, Warne took more than 700 wickets at an average of just over 25.

However, against India in 14 Tests he only took 43 wickets at a woeful average of more than 47, a whopping 22 runs higher than his career average.

But the one key difference between Philander and Warne is the strength of the batting line-ups they bowled to.

Warne bowled to world-class players who knew how to play leg spin.

Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Sourav Ganguly … the list is endless.

India’s batting line-up throughout Warne’s career was a vaunted one, especially in India.

Out of that list of players, Tendulkar holds the record for most Test runs with 15,921, Dravid has in excess of 13,000 runs, while others like Sehwag and Laxman have more than 8000 runs.

In comparison, Philander caught the back end of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey’s time in the baggy green.

Both players were past their best.

In the past two series, Philander has bowled against batsmen who many would questioned are not up to Test standard.

Players like Ed Cowan, Marsh, Rob Quiney and Alex Doolan just to name a few.

Those four batsmen have struggled to reach a first class batting average of well over 40.

Cowan has the best average out of that quartet with 40.15

Australia’s current top six of Chris Rogers, Warner, Doolan, Michael Clarke, Smith and Shane Watson is not exactly world class.

With only three players averaging over 40, this author would probably rate the top six around five out of ten.

And that is being nice to Australia’s top order.

So if Philander had difficulty with Australia’s current batting line-up, which at times can be fragile and immune to a collapses at any time, imagine how he would have gone against Australia eight or nine years ago?

He would have faced Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ponting, Damien Martyn, Clarke, Hussey, and Adam Gilchrist.

They were all averaging around the late forties to well over fifty.

Philander looks like a bowler who needs favourable pitch and weather conditions which allow him to move the ball both ways and also attack the stumps.

To be a champion bowler you need to be successful anywhere, any time and in any conditions.

Having said that Philander was up against an opener like Warner, who does put pressure back on the bowlers, and Clarke, with his intensity of aggressive stroke play and quick scoring.

Many other openers in world cricket don’t possess this talent, hence Philander has been successful against other countries.

Can Philander fight back against Australia in future series?

Absolutely.

He just needs to work out different strategies and bowling plans in order to be successful.

But as a cricket fan, when a bowler takes over 100 wickets and averages less then 20 in 20 Tests, you expect something better, especially against Australia’s average batting line-up.

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Sheffield Shield held back by Cricket Australia website

Cricket

February 26, 2014

Last week I was following the Sheffield Shield competition via two websites, ESPN cricinfo and the Cricket Australia website, cricket.com.au.

ESPN cricinfo has always been a favourite site of mine.

With ESPN cricinfo, there is a link to espncricinfo.com/australia, which is all Australian cricket related news.

There’s updated scores, interesting stories, video analysis and player profiles with an endless statistics attached to every player.

The site is linked back to ESPN cricinfo where it shows a broadened view from the cricket world perspective and has links to other countries’ websites.

It is a great site for all cricket nerds.

With cricket.com.au, it is also a good site to follow, however, I will be critical in one key area. It revolves around the live streaming of the Shield matches.

In the latest round, three matches were played at the same time: Western Australia v New South Wales, South Australia v Victoria and Tasmania v Queensland.

There were inconsistencies with the coverage of all three matches.

With the SA v Victoria streaming, there was scoreboard graphics, one or two commentators commenting on the game, and a camera on one each end of the ground. The streaming quality and coverage was satisfactory.

However there were plenty of faults with the other two games. Quite often whenever you click to view the streaming of these matches, you were greeted with this message,

“The video you are trying to watch is currently unavailable. Please check back soon”.

On day three of those games, I couldn’t watch any stream of the WA v NSW game, while with the Tas v Queensland match, it either streamed for a few minutes, or it froze.

Is this a problem that occurs to other Roarers here, or is it my online streaming?

The next day, there was finally some consistent streaming. Although the streaming and coverage of both matches were inferior in quality compared to the South Australia v Vic game.

In those matches, there was no scoreboard graphics, no commentators, and there was only one camera broadcasting from only one end of the ground..

Why is it that one Shield match (South Australia v Vic) covers it very differently to the other two?

I would have thought that every Shield game be covered the same way, but sadly that’s not the case.

Here we are in 2014, the Sheffield Shield competition, a level below Test cricket is covered very similarly to ABC TV in the 1970s before World Series Cricket came on the scene.

In an era where we have a variety of gadgets like smart or iPhones, I would’ve thought that improving coverage and streaming of Sheffield Shield games be a top priority .

Last year in a Sports Business Insider article headlined “The future of digital media in the NRL” there was a story about how the NRL is trying to improve it’s structure and operations by establishing an NRL Digital Media.

It talks about how the NRL wants to provide expanded and editorial coverage to fans across all platforms.

Later in that article, it highlighted a table showing the domain rankings for all of our domestic competitions and comparing them with other domain names from other competitions around the world.

At the time of that article, on August 27th, 2013, the domain name of NRL.com was globally ranked 12,936, while in Australia, it ranked 163. It was behind the AFL domain name of AFL.com.au which ranked 5,663 globally, and 64th in Australia.

Cricket.com.au fell way short of the two football codes. It’s domain name was globally ranked 54, 787. In Australia, 2,195.

Judging by those numbers from last year, Cricket Australia has some work to do to improve the domains ranking. One way to improve it’s ranking is to improve the coverage of the Sheffield Shield.

Cricket Australia should never treat the Sheffield Shield competition with contempt. Not only is it an important pathway for a future Test cricketer, it is also a competition that is loved by many fans around Australia.

It is a competition that deserves better coverage in this day and age of modern technology.

It is a competition that deserves respect.

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Should one day internationals be reduced to 40 overs?

Cricket

February 4, 2014

With the introduction of Twenty20 cricket, there has been debate about whether administrators can keep three forms of the game alive. The one form of the game that appears vulnerable is the 50-over one day game.

The one dayers have often been described as dour, long and boring compared to it’s younger trendier sibling, Twenty20.

However in recent times, it has enjoyed a renaissance, particularly in the 2013 one day series between India and Australia.

In the seven match series, only five matches were completed due to poor weather. In those completed matches, on nine occasions out of ten innings, 300 plus was scored, with five scores been over 350.

Indian captain MS Dhoni reacted to these high scores by stating that the fast bowlers need to adjust to the new rules, such as with four fielders, instead of five, outside of the 30 yard circle.

“With the extra fielder inside, if you are slightly off target, it goes for a boundary. A few of the bowlers are disappointed, they actually feel it will be better off to put a bowling machine there. It is a new challenge for the bowlers.”

Quite often these days, scores of over 300 have taken place.

Perhaps it is the influence of T20 along with the rule changes such as the introduction of batting power plays and with many grounds having smaller boundaries by simply bringing in the rope.

The first one day international was played on January 5, 1971. The match occurred when the third Test between Australia and England was abandoned after the first three days were washed out.

Australia and England played in a match that consisted of 40 overs per side (eight ball overs). Australia won the game by five wickets.

The first three world cups (1975, 1979 and 1983) were all held in England. In all three world cups, matches were contested of 60 overs a side.

But when India and Pakistan hosted the tournament in 1987, the overs were reduced from 60 to the current 50.

I remember following the one dayers in the early nineties. There were fielding restrictions where there were two men outside of the 30 yard circle in the first 15 overs. After 15 overs, the fielding side was allowed to have five fielders outside of the circle.

The one team that started playing with real flair in the first 15 overs was Sri Lankan opening pair Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. Many teams during that era would start with caution and preserve their wickets.

However with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, they both had a licence to go after the bowling in the first 15 overs.

It was this key tactic that helped Sri Lanka win the 1996 world cup.

After ’96, many countries decided to adopt Sri Lanka’s strategy over going over the top in the first 15 overs. An example of that was Australia putting big hitting wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist in the opening position.

From there, many teams would start attacking in the first 15 overs.

When the fan fare died down after the first 15 overs, teams would slowly go about their business by picking up one’s and two’s from overs 15 to 40 and going about at five an over with out minimal risk.

You also had the fifth and/or sixth bowlers been used during this period after the four main bowlers ( five bowlers can only bowl 10 overs each at a maximum ) were used earlier.

Those bowlers would either be allrounders or part timers. It was during this period where it became dour and boring.

To offset this, new rules came into play in 2005. In the first 10 overs, only two fielders were allowed outside the circle. There was an introduction of the two five over powerplays.

One powerplay for the bowling side to use at it’s discretion, while the other powerplay was used by the batting side. The powerplays meant, only three fieldsmen were allowed outside the circle.

Today, the bowling powerplay has been shelved, but the batting powerplay still remains.

One key rule change in todays game, is that outside of the first 10 overs and the batting powerplay, for the other remaining 35 overs, the fielding side is only allowed four fielders outside the 30 yard circle, instead of the five which is a massive change.

It gives the batting side in the last ten overs in particular, to aim for the space outside of the circle where normally the fifth fielder would be.

It is all well and good to make these rule changes to help improve the spectacle of one day cricket. However, I somehow think that these rule changes have favoured the batsman.

Therefore the contest between bat and ball becomes non existent. Hence, regular scores of over 300.

One change the ICC could bring in my opinion is to reduced the amount of overs from 50 to 40.

Even if it’s 40 overs a side, you would still term it a one day international. Also as I mentioned earlier, the very first ODI was a 40 over a side game. Back to the future perhaps?

In a 40 over innings, here are some of my rule changes.

Have the first 15 overs with two men outside of the circle, just like it was in the past, and for the remaining 25 overs, have five fielders outside of the 30 yard circle.

Also have your four main bowlers bowl 10 overs a piece at a maximum if required to make up the 40 overs, rather then go with five bowlers at eight overs each with the fifth bowler been an “allrounder” or “part timer”.

The only time a part timer be required to bowl, is when the main bowlers become expensive.

The point I’m making is, I don’t like seeing part timers been the fifth bowler, and that between them, they may have to bowl ten overs.

I’m not suggesting that every team should pick four main/specialist bowlers. A team could be picked where every player can bat or bowl if possible.

But traditionally, in one day cricket, the bowling attack would have a pattern of two fast bowlers bowling in the first 8 to 10 overs.

Then at first change, a main seamer or a fast bowling allrounder comes on to bowl.

While in the middle overs, the main spin bowler and a part timer would come into the attack. While in the latter overs, the captain brings back his fast bowlers.

Twenty/20 has been noted for been the “Big Bash”, full of ‘fours” and ”sixers”, while with one dayers, teams have to be methodical in the middle overs before attacking in the last 10 to 15 overs.

With 40 over cricket, you could have the right balance. Teams go hard in the first 15 overs, consolidate in the next 10 to 15, then start an assault towards the last 10 or so overs.

The game wouldn’t drift, and if you had your four main bowlers, rather then part timers, it then allows a good contest between bat and ball.

Hypothetically, if the ICC came up with the move of reducing to 40 overs in one dayers more then ten years ago, then maybe there wouldn’t be the introduction of Twenty20.

In the last few years, in English county cricket, they have had the Pro40 and today the ECB 40 competitions.

Interestingly, this year they are reverting back to 50 overs. Could it be due to the fact that England is ranked fourth in the 50 over format?

However, the question remains, how long will 50 over ODIs last?

Will it be around in 20 years time?

If the answer is no, then will ODIs be reduced to 40 overs, or will cricket only have the Tests and Twenty20?

Time will tell.