JOIN USHefty bats and innovative batsmen have made the task of bowling in the end overs a nightmarish task. But there are exceptions. Madhu Jawali introduces them.
Only a handful of names flash through your mind when you think of death bowling -- a Lasith Malinga here and a Dale Steyn there, for example. Bowling at the death is an art which is as much about a bowler’s skills as it is about his attitude.
Traditionally, fast bowlers have been entrusted with the job of containing the batsmen in the slog but with the advent of T20s, even spinners, mostly unconventional ones, are being given the task of bowling towards the back end of the innings.
While stemming the flow of runs in the last 10 overs has always been a tough task, the latest ODI rule, which makes it mandatory to have five fielders within the 30-yard circle, has made it essential that bowlers have to be right on the money when it comes to executing their skills.
“I think death bowling’s a big concern for a lot of teams,” admits England skipper Eoin Morgan. “Given the best death bowlers in the last five years probably have been guys who have unique actions, actually go against the grain of being traditional. And I think a lot of people, a lot of countries, suffer from that problem,” he pointed out.
As such, the West Indies will miss Sunil Narine, Pakistan dodn’t have Saeed Ajmal and Sri Lanka will hope Lasith Malinga regains his fitness in time for their crucial matches. All three mentioned have been few of the best death bowlers in recent times.
Australia, led by Mitchell Starc, appear to have to mastered that art going by the evidence we had in the tri-series, also involving India and England, in the run up to the World Cup.
The home bowlers conceded just 61 runs against India in Melbourne in the last 10 overs while they restricted England to 303/8 in 50 overs after the visitors had set themselves up for a much bigger total at 244/2 after the 40th over. Even in the first match against England, the hosts gave away no more than 57 runs in the last 7.5 overs (England were all out in 47.5 overs) despite Morgan cutting loose at that stage.
It’s not enough just having pace. You also need to be aware of batsmen’s strengths and weaknesses, the field settings and the size of the ground where you force the batsmen to clear the longer boundary. Australia, in that sense, will surely miss the injured James Faulkner’s services at least in the group stages.
“The more variety and options you have at the end of the innings (the better you will bowl at death),” said Paul Frabrace, England’s assistant coach, while talking about death bowling. “That’s something all the bowlers are working really hard to get right – their yorkers, slower balls. And it varies… If you’ve got a big field width-wise, you tend to bowl your slower balls angling halfway down or whatever. If it’s a shorter width, you have to go a little bit fuller and bowl your yorkers. So that’s where all bowlers need to continue developing their skills,” he explained.
To a large extent, India’s fortunes in this World Cup will depend upon how their bowlers perform in the death overs. When the first opportunity to test their ability came, the Indian bowlers weren’t totally off the mark with Mohammad Shami finding a hint of reverse swing at the MCG.
Cruising at 218 for three and needing just 49 runs from the last 10 overs, Australia struggled against Shami as India opened up the game with three quick wickets. While Australia held their nerve to win the match, MS Dhoni would have taken heart from the fact that India managed to bowl well at the death, an area that has been their Achilles heel.
The problem for India is they have only one Shami, who has consistently bowled well in the death since the ODI series in England last year. With his pace hardly threatening, Bhuvneshwar Kumar loses his effect once the ball becomes old while Umesh Yadav has been painfully inconsistent.
It remains to be seen how Mohit Sharma, who replaced the injured Ishant Sharma in the squad, shapes up. With his pace options limited, Dhoni, in the last one year or so, has also consciously made an effort to use his spinners in the slog with R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and more recently Axar Patel doing that job as and when required.
“Since the rule changes have been made, usually I like to keep a minimum of one or two overs for the spinners because if the fast bowlers are going for runs, with the spinner I can push the batsmen to hit on one side of the wicket,” Dhoni pointed out.
“With big boundaries, I can really exploit that to some extent. It’s always good to have those overs up your sleeve. You may need them, you may not need them. That’s something I have done in the last one-and-a-half year because we don’t have too many part-timers who can bowl at the death. It’s too early to say if Axar will be our death bowler but if we can groom him, why not,” he explained.