Day-night at Durban: quicks aren’t in the swing of things

The day-night matches have been a bone of contention during the World Cup. The nights have been helpful to the seam and swing bowlers and ha...

The day-night matches have been a bone of contention during the World Cup. The nights have been helpful to the seam and swing bowlers and have therefore bothered the teams that have survived the qualification process. The two major contenders for the Cup, India and Australia, seem to be concerned about it the most — the BCCI even requested the ICC to change the Durban semifinal to a day game.

But is there really any unfair advantage for the bowlers, or is it all in the mind? The Indian Express spoke to two former South African fast bowlers, Fanie De Villiers and Craig Matthews, on the issue.

Fanie De Villiers: Bowlers at night do have an advantage as it does swing and seam around a bit. Just look at Cape Town, 80 per cent of the time the team that wins the toss and bats first wins the game. It’s not so in Durban. You have to remember one thing: in February-March, there is the dew factor in South Africa. Also the humidity at night time makes the fielding harder and the sighting while bating is also a problem.

Story continues below this ad

There is a marked difference in the way you approach your job. At Cape Town, the direction of the wind also plays a part. While during the day you have the sea wind, as evening falls the inland wind takes over and makes humidity a factor.

But there is no such thing at Durban.

Craig Matthews: There is no unfair advantage for the seam bowlers at night. Just look at the night games during the tournament, all of them except a couple have been pretty close. And more importantly the spinners have applied the brakes and not the quicks. Just look at the West Indies-South Africa (Cape Town), Sri Lanka-South Africa (Durban)) and Sri Lanka-West Indies (Cape Town) matches it was the spinners who played a crucial role.

I guess it is more of a fear psychosis in the minds of teams now more than anything else. For me the fast bowling during this tournament has been pretty ordinary. It has been disappointing to see batsmen outperforming bowlers. If India analyse their match against England they will realise that it was Ashish Nehra’s bowling rather than the conditions at Durban which won them the match. The Englishmen kept playing across the line and getting out. The semifinal at Durban maybe a night game but there is no undue advantage or anything like that over there.