CT 2017: Simon Doull on England pitches and Indian bowlers

The scores in England have completely gone against the natural and usual run of play. The windy and overcast conditions have always aided swing bowlers and the pitches were such as to induce bounce and pace. But such hasn’t been the case in the recent past. Recent stats show that ever since the 2015 World Cup, run rates for ODIs played in England have climbed up to 6.14, the highest by a host nation with a minimum of ten ODIs in the meantime.

Simon Doull’s take on the matter

Former New Zealand bowler and current commentator has his own views on the matter. Doull has registered the high scores in recent matches in England to the improved drainage systems that doesn’t allow the moisture to be retained by the soil and therefore not aid the fast bowlers. “What we’ve seen around the world, and even in India, with the great drainage systems, people are finding it hard to get water into the pitches, to hold moisture in the pitches, to grow the grass and get seam movement out of them. We’ve seen that in England quite a bit of late,”.

The former pace bowler however, sees this as an opportunity for the bowlers to innovate and reinvent themselves. “you’ve got to find different ways to contain the batsmen. Certain sides and certain bowlers get it right. They bowl to the big side of the ground, a lot of good slower balls, we’re seeing more knuckle balls and different varieties of slower balls”. He also advocated the need for restricting Twenty20s to franchise leagues such as Big Bash and IPL, except for the World Cups. In this way, he said the freshness of 50 over cricket is preserved and be given a lot more context and relevance. He also, however acknowledged the fact that boards might be hesitant to do so as it will cost them money.

He also praised Virat Kohli‘s selection of playing three fast bowlers in the match against Pakistan whom Doull said would have also been his picks. He said Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah would be a certainty considering the pace they offered and mentioned Yadav to be the best exponent of reverse swing in the team. He also said that Bhuvaneshwar Kumar might rank just above Shami at the moment due to the fact that there is a chance to swing the ball conventionally.