The big change Mitchell Starc would make to cricket

By Will Toogood

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc says getting rid of the two new balls used at the start of each innings in ODI cricket would “bring bowlers back into the game”.

India’s flat pitches and small boundaries have allowed batters to pile on runs at this Cricket World Cup - while the two new balls mean they haven’t had to manage a reverse swinging ball at the latter stages of an innings.

When the rule was brought in in 2011 the immediate result was more bounce and swing at the start of an innings, but at the death batters have been able to accelerate a run rate while the ball softens up and loses shine at the end.

“I still think it should be one ball not two,” Starc said ahead of Australia’s semifinal against South Africa.

“The ball stays harder for longer. As we’ve seen here, the grounds are quite small, wickets are flat.

“If anything in world cricket, wickets have gotten flatter and I think if you look at some of that old footage when they bowled with one ball, reverse swing comes into it a lot more.

“That actually brings the bowlers back into the game, and I don’t think it’s any secret that one-day cricket and probably T20 cricket as well is a batter’s game and bowlers just have to hang on.”

Of the top 15 wicket takers at this World Cup so far, just six have an economy rate of less than five runs an over - of those six two are spinners for which reverse swing is not a factor.

These numbers suggest that even the best fast bowlers of the tournament can be taken for large chunks of runs in an over - particularly at the death.

Starc does concede the Indian conditions have played a hand in some of the large totals we’ve seen posted at this World Cup.

“I think there’s a lot of contributing factors, speed’s not the be all and end all over here in India as well,” he said after he was rested for Australia’s final pool game against Bangladesh.

“So certainly how you go about it (bowling) tactically and whether it’s variations or what time you bowl through a game or whether you win or lose a toss.”

Taking 230 ODI wickets for your country means your words can be taken with relative authority when speaking on such matters - although Starc’s tournament has yet to reach his usual standards.

Ten wickets at an average of 43.90 while conceding 6.55 runs an over is by no means a poor showing, but the man who took wickets for fun in the 2015 and 2019 editions has failed to take a wicket in the ever-crucial powerplay overs - which he acknowledges is below the standards fans have come to expect.

“I think a lot of things contribute to that and I certainly haven’t been probably at the level that I would have liked as well.

“So I certainly take some [responsibility] myself there that [I haven’t bowled] to the same level as the last two World Cups anyway but now have chance at the pointy end to I guess [have an] impact again.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission