Opinion That swagger is back

The first 35 games of this World Cup have thrown up a startling statistic. Surprisingly for a version that has gradually transformed from an intense bat-and-ball contest to a slug fest between big-hitting batsmen,13 bowlers have bagged the Man of the Match award before the business-end of the tournament begins. Although the pitches have been slow and low,the majority of the bowling heroes have been pacers.

Of the 13,seven are men who regularly touch 140 kph and occasionally record 150 kph on the speed gun. These days,the likes of Dale Steyn,Shaun Tait,Lasith Malinga,Mitchell Johnson,Umar Gul,Kemar Roach and Hamish Bennett aren’t hiding in the dressing room,but are seen walking away from the field with a trophy,and a swagger.

That’s a quantum leap from the show put up by the pacers during the batsmen-dominated 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. Ironically,back then,on pitches where the game’s greatest pacers had intimidated batsmen for years in the past,the speedsters had been reduced to a side show. Though,Shane Bond and Malinga managed to avoid a total no-show for the pacers in 2007 as they got one Man of the Match each in the initial days of that Cup.

Four years later,the pacers made their presence early in the tournament. After the first India-Bangladesh game,in which the aggregate run count went to 653,the tide turned. The Kiwi pacers Bennett and Tim Southee dismissed the Kenyans for 69 and the game was over before lunch. In less than a week’s time,New Zealand were on the receiving end of a similar pace assault from the Australians. This time,it was Johnson and Tait who were flexing the pace muscles. Roach’s hat-trick and Malinga’s “four wickets from his five-ball” frenzy followed,and the highlights on TV were now dominated by visuals of shattering stumps,batsmen with crushed toes withering in pain,and the triumphant pacers sporting broad smiles.

The pitches haven’t seen a sea-change while the conditions too have remained the same. So how is it that there are seven pacers in the tournament’s top 10 wicket-takers’ list at present? By being quick in the air and bowling up,the role of the pitch has been marginalised. And by mixing the “surprise short ball” with “full deliveries”,the batsmen are in a fix.

Moreover,fate has conspired to bring together an Aussie pace line-up full of bowlers who bank on raw speed. Players with a long history of injuries — Brett Lee,Tait and Johnson — have touched peak fitness at the same time. The same is true for Malinga. Since India is a second home for the likes of Lee and several other IPL old hands from Australia,the code has been cracked and circulated within the team.

With the Kiwis hiring Alan Donald as their bowling coach,youngsters like Bennett and Southee are now aiming straight at the stumps to enjoy rich rewards. In case the pacers fail to strike in the first spell,the subcontinent also provides them with the opportunity to use reverse swing later in the game. Dale Steyn,after a forgettable opening spell,returned to torment the Indian batsmen.

But pacers who have banked too much on swing and bounce haven’t been among wickets. James Anderson and Morné Morkel have struggled to be among wickets as they haven’t got the length right. Anderson had bowled too short to get the swing while Morkel hasn’t got the bounce that he does at home in South Africa.

No pace debate can be over without the mention of Pakistan. With leg-spinner Shahid Afridi in terrific form,the pacers haven’t had much say. Umar Gul has had a day,but the team’s famous tearaway Shoaib Akhtar happens to be on the sidelines in the group games. The knock-out rounds will see the spotlight on Akhtar. A Pakistani loss will automatically mean the end of the road for the speedster from Rawalpindi. Maybe,one of Akhtar’s signature spells will seal it for the pacer in the 2011 World Cup.