The joy of the dot
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Feb-2015
The early stages of the World Cup, with the exception of New Zealand's match against Scotland, have been dominated by bat over ball - as many expected would be the case. The final 10 overs of an innings have been especially brutal with run-rates in excess of ten-an-over. However, writing in the Age, Greg Baum delves a little deeper having watched India take on Pakistan and revels in the value of a dot-ball and the match-changing potential of a maiden over.
But because the number of available deliveries is rationed, even a dot ball implies runs that can never be recovered. Six dot balls is a maiden over's worth of them, not a wicket as such, but having the effect of one. In Test cricket, crafty bowlers build dots into maidens, maidens into miserly spells, and are admired for their skill. In contracted forms of the game, a maiden at the right time can be as good as a spell, a dot as good as a maiden. It is skill in itself, not of attrition as in Test cricket, but of nerve and knowing.