Around the time James Anderson made his professional debut the ultimate ignominy for a fast bowler was being slapped back over his head for four. If it happened twice in successive balls, any self-respecting paceman would hurl down a vicious throat ball, followed by a glare and a cantankerous: “Drive that!” The boot is on the other foot now. Not only is hitting a quickie back over his head de rigueur — especially in T20 — but the inevitable bouncer-retort is calmly uppercut over the wicketkeeper’s head or flicked or swatted over square leg for four or six. The fast bowler’s intimidatory options have been eliminated. Sledging is, of course, futile.
As this year’s IPL reaches its conclusion it is clear that every one of a paceman’s assets in T20 has been systematically stripped away. Short balls are dispatched over minuscule leg-side boundaries, full deliveries whipped or ramped to the fence and good-length balls bludgeoned into second tiers, coining the term “upper-decker”. In Friday’s IPL qualifier 2 — the match that determined who will meet Kolkata Knight Riders in Sunday’s final — the South African mauler Heinrich Klaasen slotted the first ball he faced from the decidedly brisk Trent Boult straight over the sightscreen. Batsmen even have a deft response to the bowler’s last resort, the wide yorker: steering or slashing it behind square on the off side for four, or even six. Anything remotely out of the striker’s reach is a wide or no-ball. And a sluggish over rate costs the bowler a boundary fielder for the last few overs. In T20 fast bowlers are in effect running in naked.
• How the world of cricket went six mad
On Friday afternoon in the County Championship Hampshire’s young opener Toby Albert ground out 20 (unbeaten) off 100 balls. The Friday before, during the same time frame in India, the Gujarat Titans openers, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, slayed the Chennai Super Kings attack for 14 an over in a stand of 210 off 17.2 overs. With teams registering unprecedented totals in the IPL, the 1,000 sixes mark breached for the third successive season and in record time — one every 13 balls — and the World T20 on the immediate horizon, bowlers are being ritually humiliated.
A quick glance at their report card from this year’s IPL demonstrates that even pacemen of the highest class — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc — as well as one-day specialists such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sam Curran have been brutally spanked. The unorthodox and consistently brilliant Jasprit Bumrah is an anomaly, conceding just more than six an over. Most others are going at nearly double that. Jofra Archer’s unique ability to propel lethal 90mph rockets and crafty 73mph cutters with exactly the same action — immediately effective on his return on Saturday — is why he is so coveted.
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The Indian crowds — flocking in their thousands to the matches and hollering at every maximum — appear not to care about the bowlers. But the administrators should, because this IPL has become basically a firing range, with the bowlers rather than the batsmen as the targets. It is a miracle that only one T20 bowler — Luke Fletcher, who was struck on the head by a drive from Sam Hain in 2017 — has suffered a serious injury.
The victims have had enough. This is from a seasoned coach (and former batsman) in the IPL: “Bowlers are in shock. They have not encountered anything like this batting onslaught. With the impact sub [an extra player who can be substituted in at any time], psychologically the batters feel they can keep going, with tons more batting to come.
“Everything is wrong: the grounds are too small, boundaries even smaller. Batters can practise for hours on end. They get stronger, they can wield heavier bats. The number of no-balls this IPL where the bowler has been on the line are just ridiculous. You can’t penalise the bowler [with a free hit] for this any more. The same with leg-side wides, you see the bat going over the ball and it’s a wide ball. It’s madness.”
The West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder, just departed from his stint at Worcestershire to prepare for the World T20, and a regular bowler in the brutal death overs, has some strong views on this. “Something definitely needs to be done, it’s getting out of hand,” the 32-year-old says. “We talked about it a lot recently at Worcester. We need a wide guideline on the leg side for bowlers, about half the distance from the stumps that the wide line is on the offside. It’ll give bowlers a bigger target. Because at the moment they can really only bowl at the stumps or on the offside. With this new line they can fire one down the leg side too.
“Also we need an additional fielder out for the last four overs, so you have six on the boundary from overs 17 to 20. It gives bowlers a bit more cover. At least with three out on both sides a batter can’t just set himself for a wide yorker and go across and flick it to leg. He can’t be so certain what’s coming. And the impact sub has to go. Its totally unfair. Teams are already playing the extra batter. The impact rule gives them nine or ten batters.”
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It is too late to change the playing conditions for this year’s World T20 (and the impact sub only exists in the IPL) but some law readjustments are necessary. At the same time, bowlers have to step up their game to match the batsmen’s ascension. “Bowlers don’t bowl enough to be accurate, hardly anyone nails a yorker,” the IPL coach says. “Levels of deception are poor to non-existent, partly because none of it is being taught early in their bowling lifecycle.”
In young bowlers’ development there is more focus on their biomechanics, and injury prevention, than skill enhancement. Few young quicks have deceptive and reliable slower balls at their disposal. Yorker practice is fundamental. It must be focused and sustained, emulating Lasith Malinga’s routine of bowling endlessly at training shoes positioned on the crease. Admittedly in a different era, I was a successful death bowler and found it helpful to spear in yorkers from a slightly lower trajectory. Potentially more specialist T20 bowling coaches are required.
Yet physically it is impossible for quick bowlers to practise as extensively as batsmen do. So the balance between bat and ball in T20 needs urgently redressing. Otherwise fast bowling will be a mug’s game and James Anderson will advise any wannabe paceman to instead take up his favourite hobby, golf.
