Good game in the end. And series. One day cricket isn’t dead just yet.
Long rant coming up....
Today's game was a breath of fresh air after the SCG matches were nothing more than a glorified 8+ hour version of T20, where it was mainly "wicket, 4, 6, 4, 6.......wicket, 4, 6, 4, 6 etc".
I know it was great at first glance to watch Smith, Finch, Warner, Labuschagne carve up India, but come on....374 and 390 in 50 over innings against INDIA (one of the best teams in the world, rather than scoring that against a minnow/associate nation), especially at the SCG which has a larger playing surface than most international grounds around the world, is way over the top and something needs to be done about that, especially when a team can comfortably respond to 390 with 338...that's 728 runs in total during the match.
I repeat what I wrote on Sunday night: I honestly can't see how both teams regularly scoring 300+ in an ODI is good for the game, other than inflating the batting averages of flat-track bullies that have been idolized around the world over the past decade. I don't see how this is helping batsmen develop their technique when most of them struggle the moment the pitch or weather conditions offers even the slightest bit of movement for the bowlers. Not a good endorsement to get youngsters to take up bowling when ODIs have become nothing more than a longer form of T20. The art of building an innings (e.g. Michael Bevan) and other tactics common in ODIs throughout the years have disappeared in exchange for a power-hitting contest. That has pretty much been England's strategy over the past few years: stack the top 6 in the batting lineup with power hitters. Scores in the 200-280 range (especially sub-250) are a more even contest between bat and ball, and today's game in Canberra would've been in that range had it not been for poor bowling in the last 6 overs by Abbott.
There's several rules I'd like to be changed, but the one that is of MOST priority (and I 100% agree with Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis on this topic): I'd love to see the ICC going back to using one ball throughout the entire 50 overs, which is what it was until October 2007 (when it was modified to a ball change at the 34 over mark of an innings). It's an absolute abomination that the ICC ODI laws of the game had to be changed in 2011 to allow new balls from each end to accommodate the fact that after decades of the white Kookaburra ball being used at the top level cricket since World Series cricket in the late 1970s, the colour doesn't hold up and sometimes becomes discoloured as early as in the 20-30 over mark. There was a T20 match in India a couple of years ago (India vs Sri Lanka IIRC) or so where the ball had to be changed during the middle of the T20 innings as it had already become too discoloured! That is pathetic, and really shows the inferior quality of the ball being used.
The new balls from each end rule implemented in 2011 has pretty much killed off reverse swing that fast bowlers such as Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and other bowlers got in the last 10 overs of an innings, and with the exception of a handful of top-tier wrist spinners around the world (e.g. Rashid Khan, Adil Rashid, Kuldeep, Chahal, Lammichane etc), it has also pretty much killed off most spin bowlers as spinners are now bowling with a harder, new ball in the innings. As a result, most captains in limited-overs matches are more inclined to use a batsmen who can bowl part-time finger spin rather than a spinner in the bowling lineup batting at #8-11. Also, over the past decade, batsmen prefer hitting a harder 20-25 over ball in the last 10 overs of an innings, rather than a 40-50 over ball.
All the talk in Australia regarding cricket balls over the past few years has only dealt with the issue of the red ball (where CA started trialing Dukes in Sheffield Shield), however, I rarely hear any talk around the world about the white balls used in ODIs. If Kookaburra can't get their act together and are incapable of producing a white ball that can last 50 overs, the ICC really needs to seriously consider using the white Dukes ball, which was used in the 1999 World Cup and was still used in ODIs in England until the ECB switched to Kookaburra in 2002. It offered something for bowlers right throughout the 50 over innings, and one of the reasons why the 1999 World Cup still remains one of the most entertaining I've watched. The genuine contest between bat and ball needs to be brought back, because over the past decade and a half, most ODI contests have been bat vs bat, with most bowlers just perceived as cannon fodder, and are simply there to lick up the crumbs from the batsman's plate.
