Talking Tactics

Powerplay delay costs dear.

Powerplay delay costs dear

Captains have tended to err on the side of caution when it comes to the timing of the batting powerplay. Fridays matches provided two examples of this. At Nagpur,New Zealand took the final powerplay at the start of the 44th over,when they were eight down. Daniel Vettoris range of shuffles and premeditated swipes helped him gather boundaries off Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee,but also brought about his dismissal,with three powerplay overs still remaining. A ball later,the Kiwis were all out. It might have made more sense for New Zealand to opt for the batting powerplay at some point between overs 34 after the mandatory ball change and 40. For one,they were staging a recovery at the time,with Vettori batting in tandem with the well-entrenched Nathan McCullum. And instead of Johnson and Lee,they were facing spinners Jason Krejza and Steven Smith,neither of whom looked particularly penetrative.

In the day-nighter at Mirpur,meanwhile,Bangladesh seemed to have decided beforehand that they would opt for the batting powerplay in the last five overs,regardless of how many wickets they would have in hand at that point. Just like New Zealand,Bangladesh were eight down when the powerplay began. In effect,Bangladesh threw away a weapon that might have helped them put some pressure back on the Irishmen.

Botha a throwback to Harris

The slow wickets at the 2011 World Cup have done funny things to ODI cricket. Batsmen are batting sensibly in the first 15 overs. Spinners are no longer there merely to rescue flagging over rates. They are suddenly so vital that South Africa yes,South Africa! are playing three yes,three! of them. Another supposedly lost facet of the ODI game that has made a resurgence is the exponent of cunning slow-medium. Against Bangladesh,Ireland had a battery of dibbly-dobblies to rival any of the finest produced by New Zealand in their 90s heyday.

And the most successful of them,Andre Botha,was a spitting image of Chris Harris not just because of the shiny pate. Like Harris,Botha completed his ungainly action with a roll of his fingers down the side of the ball. This slower leg-cutter fetched him three wickets,including those of Bangladeshs two premier batsmen. First,he slid one enticingly wide to Tamim Iqbal the opener sliced too early,and was out caught at point.

Four overs later,he sent back Shakib Al Hasan. The line this time was straighter and the length shorter. Shakib shaped to punch the ball to long off and pick up a single. Mistake the ball stopped on the pitch,with Shakib already halfway into his stroke,and the tiny straightening caused by the leg-break action cramped the left-hander slightly,forcing him to pop the ball straight back to Botha.