"[F]or all its reputation for conservatism, cricket in its history has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for innovation. What game has survived subjection to such extraordinary manipulations, having been prolonged to 10 days (in Durban 70 years ago), truncated to as few as 60 balls (in Hong Kong every year), and remained recognisable in each instance?"
~Gideon Haigh


 T20: Five wickets are enough

For the T20s, we strongly recommend that the number of available wickets be reduced to five or six, preferably five, i.e. the innings is considered over if a team loses five wickets (instead of ten), or twenty overs, whichever comes first. As discussed above, in its present format, strike rate is all that matters. No wonder batsmen just come in and start hacking away with little regard for their wicket. Reducing the number of wickets will increase the importance of holding on to one’s wicket for the batsman and of taking one for the bowler.

We believe this change will markedly increase the attraction of T20 cricket. It will also have several highly beneficial cascading effects. With only five wickets to play with, selectors will stop recruiting ‘batsmen who can bowl’ and go shop for real bowlers, raising the quality of bowling in such matches. It will also encourage focused efforts on the part of young upcoming players to hone their talents deeply in their respective skills instead of nudging them towards becoming a jack of both trades.

T20 Recommendation
The number of wickets should be reduced to five or six, instead of ten.This increases the importance of bowlers and restores a much-needed balance between bat and ball. More competition, greater intensity, and more enjoyment.



ODI: Undo Fielding Restrictions

For the ODIs, one can think of two ways in which to redress the skew and reward the toilers, the forgotten tribe. First, some of the fielding restrictions should be rolled back, e.g., in 2012 the number of fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle during non-powerplay overs was reduced from five to four.

This is entirely unnecessary. Second, some guidelines must be voluntarily adopted by cricket playing countries to provide a healthy variation in the playing fields. In the old politically incorrect days, one would have said that the batsmen always got the pretty women, as well as all the endorsements. All we are saying is—give the bowler a chance.

Three-day Tests

The reason ODI cricket was invented, and for that matter T20, is that the traditional gentle-person’s game takes too long. It is not a coincidence – indeed, it is a calculated design – that the time duration of T20 cricket is three hours, a duration common to most spectator team sports – football, American football, baseball, basketball, etc. Even in individual sports, a good tennis match lasts three hours! Three hours seems to be the spectator-maximising time that different countries, and different sports, have converged on for sports entertainment.

But for those of us who have been brought up on Tests, T20 cricket, while enjoyable, is just not the same as the original. Can anything be done to make the crowds come back to Test cricket? Yes. A very simple modification to Test cricket rules can add significantly to the enjoyment of a Test match while keeping its essence intact—and drastically reducing its duration.The only rule that needs changing is the requirement that only nintey overs be bowled during a day. This should be increased to 110 overs a day and a Test should be played for only three days.

This rule change will alter the demand for spin bowlers as the team captains will have to rush through an extra twenty overs a day. But wouldn’t reducing matches to three days bring in a lot of draws something that neither the players, nor the spectators, can be too happy about? Not really, because result matches in Test history have averaged 332 overs, and drawn matches average 377 (both figures exclude the timeless matches in Australia between 1883 and 1937). For the period since 1 January 2000, result matches average 319 overs and account for three-fourths of all Tests. This result percentage is by far the highest for any period, and is indicative of the demand (by spectators) for results.

Between 1883 and 1937, a strange natural experiment occurred in Test cricket. During this time period, most countries had three-day Test matches—except Australia, where all Test matches were of a timeless duration. Yes, timeless, i.e. they were played until a result was obtained—there were no draws. Outside of Australia, both result and drawn matches lasted for an average of 301 overs; within Australia, they lasted for an average of 386 six-ball overs. Space fills a vacuum, and Test matches fill the time allotted to them. No reason why exciting, crowd-pulling three-day Test matches with 110 overs a day cannot become an immediate reality.

Overs in Test Cricket
Since 1980, all Test matches have averaged 332 overs.An average of 319 overs for result matches, and an average of 356 for drawn matches. Since 2000, 75 per cent of all matches have ended with a result. The time for three-day Test matches, with 110 overs a day, is now.



Excerpted with permission from Criconomics: Everything You Wanted to Know About ODI Cricket and More, Surjit S. Bhalla and Ankur Choudhary, Rupa.