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More runs don't mean better quality

MELBOURNE, JAN. 8. As we move from the ebb and flow of Test cricket into the slather and whack of the limited-over game it is to be hoped that the players can make the adjustments required to keep up the level of entertainment we witnessed in the longer version of the game. What the Test series showed us is that India and Australia are fairly evenly matched. Zimbabwe might struggle to keep up.

The Indians came to Australia with the express intention of proving that they can be as competitive away as they are at home. Hopefully they can refocus their attention quickly following the physically and emotionally draining Test series. Adam Gilchrist has already flagged that he and other key Australians need a rest.

Not that long ago Australia beat India in the final of the World Cup with Ricky Ponting leading the way with the bat. As in the recent Test series the Indian bowlers were unable to keep Ponting quiet. They will have to do something different during the VB series if the result is going to be reversed. The biggest plus for India is that it will have the batting talents of V.V.S. Laxman available. Why he was overlooked for the World Cup still intrigues me. He will be hard to bowl to in the form he has shown so far on tour.

Injuries to Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have hurt the Indian cause as much as the loss of McGrath and Warne has handicapped Australia. Once again it will be a series fought out by the batsmen. The bowlers will be the bit part players again. But isn't that par for the course in limited-over cricket? Despite the success of the India-Australia Test series the game of cricket is not as healthy as we would all hope. The one-day game is also struggling and it needs an infusion of cricket.

Decisions have been taken, or rather not taken, in the last 25 years in the belief that the modern spectator will only respond to swash-buckling style over substance in the one-day arena. In some parts of the globe, the custodians of the game have allowed Test cricket to be denigrated in the eyes of the public by almost ignoring it in their schedules.

Cricket is at its best as a spectacle when the balance between bat and ball is fairly even. In fact, and, as a batsman this hurts me to say, it is probably at its very best when the ball has the slight advantage over the bat. We then have a contest where only the best will survive and where an innings of substance will really mean something.

This balance is definitely the case when we are talking about Test cricket, although I have a belief that it is also the case with the limited-over version of our game. Who was it that decided a limited-over clash was a better spectacle when the wickets are flat and the bowlers are treated as cannon fodder? I'll bet it was a marketing guru or a media man! No cricket person in his right mind would think this is so!

The inherent strength of cricket is that it is a strategic game that relies on the wiles of the bowlers and fielding team, led by the captain, testing the mental and physical skills of the batsmen. When the bowlers are neutered it ceases to be a contest and the game loses much of its appeal. Current wisdom seems to be that to appeal to the modern spectator we have to see 300 runs scored every time in limited-over cricket, and as many balls as possible hit into the crowd. Presumably to keep them awake. In domestic one-day cricket in Australia we even have cash prizes for spectators who can catch any of these big hits. This attitude sells the modern spectator short and actually threatens the long-term survival of the game in both forms.

Because of the flat wickets produced for limited-over matches over the relatively short history of this version of the game, we have seen the never-ending search for the one-day `specialist'. This must be someone who doesn't bat or bowl well enough to play Test cricket because this is usually the type of player who is chosen for the shorter game.

This practice demeans the quality of the 50-over contest and is part of the problem with the shorter version of the game and its appeal. To me a good player is a good player no matter what the length of the game. If conditions were more suitable for a contest between bat and ball more of these players would be required to give their team the edge and, I believe, give the limited-over game more enduring pulling power.

For starters it would do much to reduce the incidence of the `flat period' in the middle of the innings that is akin to a blight on the limited-over game. We would see more attacking fields for longer and the content of `real' cricket would be greater in each game. The occasional batting `feast' would happen naturally, as would the occasional bowling `feast' so we would see a greater degree of variety therefore less predictability. Players then would have to be more skilled and we would see more, and better, contests.

If India and Zimbabwe are to restrict Australia to totals they can achieve they are going to have to find a way of getting Hayden, Gilchrist and Ponting out cheaply on a regular basis. Australia has proven it can make huge scores if it gets away early so the pressure will be on the visiting bowlers and captains to find their own version of WMD.

On paper, the World Champion Australian team looks to have too much depth for both India and Zimbabwe but as India showed us in the Test series the game is not played on paper so don't write the two contenders off just yet.

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