Cozier on Cricket - White ball blues for bowlers (23 May 1999)

23 May 1999

Cozier on Cricket - White ball blues for bowlers

Tony Cozier

Bowlers have found themselves torn between delight and despair in the opening matches of the World Cup.

The white ball and conditions typical of early season England have offered them exaggerated swing through the air and movement off the seam but it has proved a mixed blessing.

Early wickets have fallen, repeatedly to edged catches into more slips than are usual in the limited-overs game, and team after team has had to fight to recover from early trouble. Yet bowlers have found control so difficult and umpires have been so strict in their interpretation that wides have become one of the most significant factors in the tournament.

In the first 12 matches, up to Friday, there were 332 wides, an average of 14 an innings. That compares with 362 wides for the 42 matches - an average of just under five an innings - in the previous World Cup in1996 in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the complete contrast of lifeless pitches and hot, dry weather.

At the present rate, it is estimated that there will be over 1 200 wides by the time it's all over.

The wides have cost the West Indies more dearly than any team other than Zimbabwe. They sent down 23 in the opening match against Pakistan in Bristol and 25 against Bangladesh here Friday, a total of 48 in 99.2 overs.

The Zimbabweans had 25 against Kenya and 24 against India.

Anything marginally down the leg-side has been called by umpires instructed to be strict in their interpretation of the regulation.

Although the makers, Duke's, are adamant that colour is the only thing that differentiates between the white ball and the red ball, the players are convinced it is harder and swings more.

Mike Gatting, the former England captain and now selector, took part in an experiment on television last month, conducted by a New Zealand scientist, Brian Wilkins, that seemed to support the theory that the white ball does swing more.

"The key thing is that the white balls have a smoother surface and move faster through the air, allowing them to swing more," Gatting said. "I was surprised by the number of wides, certainly leg-side wides."

Umpires have taken some of the blame for being to inflexible but it is a theory that Australian Daryll Hair was not prepared to accept.

Asked on television the reason for the high percentage of wides, he replied pointedly: "The bowlers."

Courtney Walsh, who has bowled more overs with red ball and white than almost anyone else in international cricket, seemed to support Hair, stating he had "no problem" with the ball.

It is a problem that hasn't affected the more experienced bowlers. He has been debited only one wide in his 20 overs so far. Curtly Ambrose didn't have any in his ten against Pakistan.

In contrast, Merv Dillon had ten against Pakistan, six against Bangladesh. Hendy Bryan had 11 - the most by any bowler in an innings so far - on his first appearance against Bangladesh.

Michael Holding, one of the outstanding fast bowlers in the great West Indies teams of the late 1970s and 1980s, now a television commentator, noted that there should be no excuses for the current crop of West Indies fast bowlers who are seam, rather than swing, bowlers.

"Dillon and Bryan pushed the ball down the leg-side whenever they delivered from wide on the return crease," Holding said. "They should be concentrating on wicket to wicket."

All the bowlers were working on the problem yesterday under the watchful eye of temporary coach and manager, Clive Lloyd, at the nets at the Clontarf Cricket Club where they had beaten Bangladesh the previous day.

"It's something we have to correct and fast," Lloyd said. "We can't afford to be giving away so many unearned runs and extra balls to the opposition."

Team-by-team breakdown of wides in the World Cup as of Friday's matches

(Tabulate: team, wides, balls, percentage of wides per number of balls):

Zimbabwe 49 570 8.60 West Indies 48 596 8.05 Pakistan 37 533 6.94 Scotland 38 569 6.68 Kenya 29 480 6.04 Australia 33 572 5.77 India 24 584 4.11 South Africa 21 512 4.10 Sri Lanka 19 581 3.27 England 15 590 2.54 New Zealand 10 526 1.90 Bangladesh 9 477 1.69

Source :: The Barbados Nation