England v South Africa ODI Series. Powerplays, England's chicken and egg situation
We still don't know the definitive answer to the proverbial chicken and egg question. Which did come first?
In ODI's, England also find themselves in a chicken and egg situation with regard to their approach to the 20 overs of powerplays.
This format of the game has been transformed since the introduction of the powerplay overs and the more recent rule that allows the ball to be changed after 34 overs.
In the olden days, most teams were content with a standard approach of getting of to a solid start, keeping wickets in tact for an assault in the latter overs. Match winning scores of 250+ were commonplace.
Those days are gone, 250 is now seen as a below par score, unless the pitch is a batting graveyard. Scores of 300+ are nearly the norm and scores of 275 or under are chased up regularly.
The major reason for this shift has been the introduction of the powerplay overs. 20 overs of fielding restrictions where batsmen are encouraged to play positively and and score quickly.
Most teams have adopted the approach of going hard in those early overs, then consolidating in the middle overs when ball becomes soft and field restrictions lifted, then going hard again in the latter overs when a newer, harder ball has been taken after the 34th over.
Central to this approach has been pinch hitting openers. Destructive players who play fearlessly, unselfishly and their only aim is to get their team off to a flying start that would give them momentum and confidence towards building a huge total.
Aussies had Gilchrist, India have Sehwag, Kiwi’s have McCullum, Saffers have Gibbs, Pakistan have Afridi, Windies have Gayle, Sri Lanka have the original pinch hitter, Jayasuriya and England have….err.. err… ??
This is England’s chicken and egg conundrum. What came first, a pinch hitter that is a test class player, or a test class player that is a pinch hitter?
The illustrious list of pinch hitter above have one major thing in common…NONE of them came straight from their domestic league straight into opening at international level. They ALL proved themselves as international class batsmen before being promoted to open the innings.
The most important ability of pinch hitters is that they can express themselves, unselfishly, without fear of their place being in jeopardy if they fail. This self confidence is at the root of all their success.
England, conversely, have gone against the grain. To be fair to them, they have recognised the need to adopt this strategy at the top of the innings, but they have gone down the route of picking domestically proven pinch hitters and hoped they would step up to international class, or hope that international class bowlers drop to domestic class. Some hope !!!
They have tried Darren Maddy, Matt Prior, Phil Mustard and Luke Wright to name but a few.
What they all have in common is that none were proven batsmen at test level, none were promoted to open after proving themselves against international bowlers. Though they had the odd moment of success, they all ultimately failed to fill the role for any extended period of time. Quite simply, the leap from domestic cricket to international cricket requires more then a leap of faith!
Furthermore, with each failure, they changed their approach, stopped expressing themselves, went into their shell and with the threat of being dropped, they tried to play for their places and build slow innings rather then unselfishly trying to get their team off to a flyer.
Their inclusion has proved to be counter productive to England as, ironically, they ate up valuable balls at the top of the order, then got out cheaply and put pressure on those that followed.
When they failed and were dropped, England reverted to the old fashioned approach in the powerplay overs of going for a slow, but steady start with the likes of Cook and Bell. This was also counter productive as the middle order was then put under pressure to up the run rate when they came in, and invariable failed.
This inability to make proper use of the power play overs has been England’s fundamental weakness in recent years and its not surprise to see them languishing in 6th position in the rankings.
So, what the solution?
Long term, the only solution is to follow the lead of all the other countries and have a test class, positive, fearless opening partnership. They had it to some effect when Marcus Trescothik was around, but there is no one of his calibre at present.
The only realistic options would be Pieterson or Flintoff, but promoting one or both of them to open would leave a very weak middle order.
Shah or Bopara are other possibles , but neither are assured of a place and so they too would find it difficult to express themselves with the knowledge that one or two failures could see them dropped again.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but something that England must address if they are to compete against the stronger sides over a long period.
It’s going to take time, they simply do not have the players for the situation at present, but hopefully in the long term they can find one or two that could come to the rescue.
It’s this fundamental weakness in England’s approach that will almost certainly mean that South Africa will dominate this series.
England will however be full of confidence after winning the 3rd Test, with Kevin Pietersen getting of to a great start as skipper.
They are capable of winning a game or two, but I feel over the course of the series they will come out second best.
South Africa are on the verge of overtaking Australia at the top of the ODI rankings. They are a formidable outfit at this format of the game and I believe this series will be further confirmation of that.
I don’t often back short odds on shots, but I feel South Africa should be a lot lower then the 1.65 that is on offer to win the series outright and it represents exceptional value and so my bet in that outright series win market is:
BACK South Africa for 4 points @ 1.65 or better at Betfair
Bigjoe
PS I will now be away on my hols for two weeks, looking forward to coming back fully refreshed and raring to go!
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