Aaron Finch has joked that his opening partner David Warner’s bats are “ridiculous” in size, but he believes the absence of a fifth fielder outside the circle has a greater impact on the balance between bat and ball in ODIs. ICC chief executive David Richardson this week said that modern bats had weighted the game in favour of batsmen and the ICC would try to rectify the imbalance.
The enormous depth of Warner’s bat was highlighted by Channel Nine during the recent Test series against India when they showed a side-on shot of his bat compared to one used in the 1990s. Finch said Warner would be able to clear the boundary regardless of what bat he used, and he believed other factors had influenced the one-day game more than bat sizes.
“I think the size that we’ve seen over the summer for Davey, it’s getting a bit ridiculous isn’t it if we’re honest,” Finch said. “Just makes it easy to hit sixes, which we know he does anyway. At times he could use a toothpick and get them over the fence.
“I think it definitely has an impact but two new balls makes a huge difference as well. In the past, reverse swing and a 50-over old ball, it was quite hard to get it over the rope, it would get pretty soft. But now with a 25-over old ball, a lot of the time they’re still riding on it at the end of the game. So it stays rock hard, the wickets are good, there’s more pace in the wickets these days, especially in Australia.
“Also four [fielders] out of the circle. That’s the big thing that I think makes a huge difference. The guys have confidence that they’re not hitting over blokes’ heads on the boundary anymore, they’re just hitting to an [empty] area of the ground … Combined with everything, I don’t think the bats make the biggest difference.”
This year’s World Cup will be the first played under the new rules. The introduction of two balls in ODIs – one new ball from each end at the start of an innings – occurred late in 2011, and in October 2012 the ICC altered the fielding restrictions to ensure that no more than four men could be outside the circle at any stage of an ODI; previously five was the maximum.
Richardson said this week that it was a concern that batsmen could mis-hit a ball and have it clear the rope instead of being caught on the boundary, due to the size of bats. Boundaries will be pushed back where possible during this World Cup to create more danger for batsmen, but it is notable that since the fielding changes came in far more sixes are being hit.
Since the 2012 rule change on four fielders outside the circle, 294 ODIs have been played and 2181 sixes have been struck. In the 294 ODIs that came immediately before the rule change, 1722 sixes were hit. Since the rule change, the average run-rate in all ODIs has been 5.20; in the corresponding number of games prior, it was 5.00.
The ICC made the changes in an effort to make the one-day game more exciting, and remarkable innings such as AB de Villiers’ 31-ball century last month and Rohit Sharma’s pair of double-centuries suggests that goal has succeeded, at least in terms of exciting scoring rates. But Finch said players themselves often enjoyed low-scoring contests more, and he said bowlers had adapted as much as they could.
“As an opening batsman you’re always up against the new ball, so that’s hard enough sometimes when it’s swinging around, and if there’s any seam,” he said. “But bowlers have become unbelievably skilled as well. We’ve seen the introduction of blokes bowling three or four different variations of slower balls. Guys are so skilled at bowling yorkers, they’re allowed two bouncers in the over.
“I think the four [fielders] out thing is probably the only thing against them in one-day cricket. But at the same time the game is there to be entertaining for fans. From a player’s point of view, I think the most exciting games are the low scoring ones, when you’re defending 180 and you’ve got nothing to lose, they can be really exciting games.”