Of Elbows and Over Rates

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By Thomas B. Perry

An opinion from cricketmystery.com on the last Aussie India Test - I like his comments on over rates especially!

The Indians have just given the Aussies a thoroughly good spanking, with Alice Cooper being deservedly named as Man Of The Series.sp; The Indians outplayed Australian in every aspect of the game and while they had the toss fall in their favour 3 out of 4 times, they only allowed the Australians into the game on occasions and managed to keep them out when it mattered.

Normally Australia is so strong in all departments that when one fails, the other is good enough to bring the game home for them.  Unfortunately for them, while the lack of riches in the bowling department meant that they were going to have to work harder for their wickets than usual, most of us expected the batting to at least avoid losses.

Even the clever tactic of "mouthing off at players who were making double hundreds to the point when one of them sticks his elbow into Shane Watson (an eminently elbowable individual) and gets himself banned for a game" didn't pay off as the Aussies must have hoped as they still lost the final match by 172 runs.  The BCCI handled that whole incident with their usual arrogance; unfortunately there was no point in threatening to go home this time as they were already there.  I'll wait to see them force a change of rules to say an elbow can be used against another player as long as it is not bent more than 15 degrees!

Over rates in international cricket have been an annoyance to me since I started watching it in the late 70s and they are still not improving.  While it is enormous fun to watch a fast bowler push off from the sightscreen, run 60 metres and fire six deliveries short and wide of the batsman who leaves them all alone, some people want to see more than that.  In fact the run-ups aren't as long as they used to be, yet teams still struggle to bowl 15 overs an hour.

Fortunately I have the answer, which was taught to me when I was at high school.  Any captain of a cricket team should know this already, but for those that do not here are the magic over rate rules:

The bowler should turn and walk back to bowling crease as soon as the delivery is complete UNLESS there is a possibility of an immediate run out at the bowlers end.  If runs are taken the bowler should be waiting at the top of his run up before the ball is returned to him.

If the ball is played to a fielder and there is not chance of a run out, then the ball should be returned to the bowler via the other players positioned between where the ball was fielded and the bowler.  If this includes the wicket keeper then fine, but most of the over rate problems in cricket today are caused by fielders constantly firing the ball back to the keeper when it is not necessary.

That's it!  Collingwood and Ponting can now sleep a bit easier knowing that over rate fines will be a thing of the past.

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Posted by Perky @ cricketmystery.com on Fri 14 Nov

6 comments

Nice one. :-D

One thing but, next time you post don't forget to enter some name in the 'Filename' text box just below your post. If you don't, no one will be able to post comments here. I have done it for you in your two posts. :-)

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Posted by Zapper on 2008-11-14 23:08:31

Hey thanks Zapper - gotta get the head around the techcooonoolgieeeeee....

cheers

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Posted by Perky @ cricketmystery.com on 2008-11-15 08:20:09

Every body is using the issue cleverly in their favor. Is Gambir is a fool to elbow Watson getting banned for a test. You should also think about the extent to which he suffered from those personal comments thrown at him, and at last watson put his arm in front of his face when he is running for a single. The one who has large part in the issue is escaped with little, and you are supporting them with some clever words. You should think of what you do when you are in the same situation, when some body is talking about you about 2 to 3 hours continously with negative remarks on your body, face, legs and your family memebers and "fuck you" like things, and some one who puts his arm in front your face when you are running. Gambir may be foolish because he dont know the clever things like those.

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Posted by postpraveen on 2008-11-15 16:36:16

Postpraven I can sympathise with Gambir - the incessant heat and torment of test cricket.

But boy did he hit them where it really hurt - with big big runs shoved into their faces.

The runs don't just talk - they scream!

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Posted by Perky @ cricketmystery.com on 2008-11-15 19:51:20

poor guy gambhir,,i like his attitude though..the decision was very biased...shane got what he deserved from gambir for throwing a hand while taking a single..boy believe me this is the first australian team i see complaining like cry babies..if only bcci is not filthy rich these guy will take us for a ride...:)

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Posted by purush on 2008-11-16 11:30:21

Reckon, Watson is a real wuss............crying like a baby being elbowed..............wonder how would he survive Champions League Football.....

Just goes to show that Aussie cant take things in good spirit............cry and complain................What bout the time when McGrath deliberately blocked Master Blaster in a One day in Delhi bout 6-7 yrs ago.............We Indians dont go crying........BE A MAN AUSSIES !!!!....


U taught the world that Cricket is not a gentlemans game by all the sledging, cheating and rowdiness.........Now be MAN enough to get a taste of it form Indias Young Tigers whose gonna eat Roo meat raw every time u step on Indian Soil..............

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Posted by INDIARULES on 2008-11-22 03:08:51

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