The decade of the bowler?

Sir Neville Cardus wrote “a true batsman should in most of his strokes tell the truth about himself.” Cardus was, indeed, right, but should have gone further: a batman’s strokes also tell the truth about the state of cricket. Applying Cardus’ logic, what do the batsmen’s strokes in world cricket today tell us? Simple: the bowlers are beginning to strike back.

It is widely agreed that, in recent years, some Test matches had become a chore to watch, mainly due to an imbalance that had grown between bat and ball. It is immaterial whether this disparity had arisen because of a lack of quality bowlers or poor pitches (or both). The truth still remained that scores of 600-5 were becoming far too familiar. It’s not that watching batsmen compile big scores is not entertaining; the problem is when you only watch batsmen compile big scores, and this was the case on a far too frequent basis. India against South Africa in Chennai in 2008 and Pakistan’s tour of India in 2007 are good examples of the negatives of batsmen-dominated Tests.

However, 2010 seems to have bucked the trend. Batsmen are not just scoring runs, they are also getting out. Test matches are not always fading into insignificance, they are getting results within four days. Pakistan’s Test series against England and Australia have provided engrossing and unpredictable contests, while England’s visit to South Africa at the beginning of the year, despite not getting results in every Test, exhibited fine displays of fast bowling. Even Sri Lanka and India in the subcontinent have managed to bowl each other out. The common factor in all these series? The prominence of the bowler.

Nonetheless, things are not perfect: India’s bowling attack currently looks slightly toothless, with a lack of quality and in-form fast bowlers, while Sri Lanka are yet to find adequate replacements for Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. Concomitantly, world spinning stocks, too, look rather depleted; aside from Graeme Swann, spinners such as Daniel Vettori and Harbhajan Singh only seem capable of containing, not taking wickets. Even so, Pakistan’s pairing of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, South Africa’s duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, and England’s James Anderson and Swann are showing that bowling has turned a corner.

This is not an attack on free-flowing centuries - far from it. The game needs Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and others to keep challenging the bowlers and scoring big tons. However, it would be a welcome change to think that the batsmen are earning their runs and that, at any minute, they could still be out. This year has provided the glimmer of hope that cricket fans have been waiting form. Maybe, just maybe, the curators and officials are beginning to understand: cricket needs bowlers to have an influence on the game. Maybe, just maybe, we are entering the decade of the bowler.