Andy Flower bowled over by one-day statistics
England are now examining patterns which govern 50-over internationals and identifying where substantial improvements can be made, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
England are now examining patterns which govern 50-over internationals and identifying where substantial improvements can be made, writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.
One such area is what happens to the first ball of an over in 50-over cricket. Anecdotal evidence had suggested that batsmen in other countries targeted the first ball, so as to demoralise the bowler and make him think about clawing back his economy-rate instead of taking wickets.
Going into this series, the facts were that India and South Africa had scored the highest percentage of runs off the first ball of an over in one-day internationals in 2009 while England, of the eight main countries, scored fewest: India scored 991 runs off 1065 such balls, South Africa 638 off 694 balls, and England only 630 runs off 865.
As England's most formidable batsman of recent vintage flies to South Africa today there is a sense that he is embarking on his mission in the nick of time, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
Perhaps it was always intended that Gooch's expertise be used in the final planning for a daunting series… But if the call had not already been made, there was every reason for dialling Gooch's numbers in the aftermath of South Africa's overwhelming 112-run victory in the third one-day international in Cape Town on Friday night.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo