World Cup 2019: Former New Zealand cricketer Grant Elliot says reverse swing should not decide fate of this tournament

The ICC World Cup 2019 is just a few days away and the warm-up matches have already begun. The tournament is being played in England and Wales and the hosts are considered to be favourites to become champions for various reasons. A big reason for that has been their aggressive style of batting which has taken the world by surprise.

England has broken the record of the highest team total in ODIs, two times in two years, as they first hit 444 against Pakistan in 2016 and then bettered it with 481/6 against Australia in 2018. This can be also attributed to the flat decks in England and average sized grounds, especially Trent Bridge which have seen such big scores consistently.

In Pakistan against Afghanistan warm-up game recently, an encouraging thing was seen for the bowlers, s Wahab Riaz got to reverse swing the ball during the second half of the Afghanistan innings and even Pakistani captain Sarfaraz Ahmed admitted that such a thing was highly encouraging for their team, who had bowlers, who can take advantage of such a thing.

Grant Elliot says umpires should change the ball if it reverses

Pakistan had put up 262 runs on board thanks to 112 from Babar Azam and 44 from Shoaib Malik. For Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi picked 3/46, Rashid Khan and Dawlat Zadran picking two each. The Afghan chase was anchored by Hashmatullah Shahidi who made 74 not out, while Hazratullah Zazai hammered 49 runs in 28 balls at the top.

Wahab Riaz picked three wickets with some amazing display of reverse swing with a semi-old ball and which was acknowledged by the skipper Sarfaraz during the post-match chat. He mentioned that Wahab Riaz was included in the Pakistan left-arm for his ability to not only swing the ball but bring reverse swing into the play during the death overs, something he showed while bowling around the wicket.

However, former Kiwi cricketer Grant Elliot was not happy with Pakistani bowlers getting reverse swing despite the fact that a new ball is used from either end during the 50 overs. Elliot is most famous for his amazing innings for the Kiwis in the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup against South Africa, as he hit the match-winning six to take the team to its first final ever.

Grant Elliot tweeted, “With 2 new balls it should not reverse swing after 25 overs. If it does the ball should be replaced by the umpires. Reverse swing shouldn’t decide this World Cup. Pace and spin yes, but not reverse swing #CWC2019 #BACKTHEBLACKCAPS”