NatWest final: Time to take sting out of toss of a coin (7 Sep 1998)

7 September 1998

Time to take sting out of toss of a coin

By Mark Nicholas

DARE I say it, but this splendidly social September occasion, is done. No more can a cup final be played in the autumn. Indeed it has already been moved backwards by one week for next year, and no more can it be 60 overs per side.

Since 1981, when NatWest assumed their generous and genially run sponsorship from Gillette, the standard bearers, just three finals have been won by the side batting first and scoring the most runs (Derbyshire tied with Northamptonshire in that first year but lost fewer wickets). The pitches are too juicy at 10.30 on a September morn and the weather is so mightily unreliable that the likely damp conditions will assist the seam bowler further.

Numerous matches have made a mockery of the spectators' money for there have been three wins by nine wickets, two by eight and two by seven. In fact since 1972, by when the Sunday League was four years into its full cry and the Benson and Hedges Cup began - this gave the English three one-day competitions so we can say that the players were getting the hang of it - in only five of the 26 finals have the team batting first, notwithstanding that tie, gone on to win the trophy. It cannot be right that the toss plays such a large part in deciding the match.

It must also make sense to play over the same distance as the rest of the world and by the same rules. Fifty overs is standardised for the moment and England are not excelling as they ought.

Passages of the 60-over game appear limp by comparison to the stuff we saw in the Emirates Triangular Series, see abroad every winter or have seen at times in the B and H Cup -those thrilling first 15 overs and the tense final few which happen more often the shorter the match. Perhaps English players need more exposure to 50-over cricket, and more practice and they, too, will innovate with tactics in the clever way of New Zealand in the 1992 World Cup and Sri Lanka, most famously, in 1996.

Next year, the NatWest Trophy is to be extended by two rounds and from 32 teams to 60. The competition will get under way soon into May when already the light is good enough to play in the early evening, as it still is at the end of August. Anyway, poor light does not have such an affect on cricket as early-morning dampness.

The answer is to start 50-over matches at 11.30 in the morning, an hour later than now. Should there be a little help for the seamers late in the day while the dew descends then so be it, it will even up the minimal advantage to the seamers at the start of play.

A last thought on this point. If all one-day finals are to continue at Lord's, which is the players' choice and the marketers' too, for each game is a financial bonanza, is there always a need for a brand new pitch? We have often seen how Lord's pitches are best for batsmen on the second or third day of Test matches, particularly the most recent ones, which are less cracked, so why not play on a pitch which has been used for a one-day game a week or so earlier? It may seem odd to suggest something old and borrowed for so grand an occasion but better some business for the spinners than the exaggeration of the seam bowling affect in so many finals.

What a lovely innings John Crawley played yesterday. What riches the selectors must have that they nearly excluded him from the party to Australia.

Authority is an important thing in a batsman, tinged ideally by a touch of arrogance. Crawley has both of these, while Graeme Hick, who will forever be an outstanding batsman, has appeared apologetic at times at the crease, a failing which gives impetus to the opponent. I am sorry for Hick and he is doubtless desperately sorry for himself. He was not meant for the spotlight but it follows him relentlessly and has deeply affected his play.

Crawley, who can be a reclusive figure off the field, is a lover of the stage when on it. He plays his attacking strokes with rare flourish and defends with artistic impression. There were moments yesterday when his batting brought the sort of gasps that are reserved for a Tendulkar, say, or a de Silva. The hammered cuts and offside drives, the precise flicks through square leg and two memorable on drives are all punched by strong wrists and the perfect co-ordination of eye, hand and bat. Best of all, they brought a dismal cup final the enjoyable batting it needed.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)