Hard work for batsmen

Big scores were expected during this World Cup, particularly on the smaller grounds. Before the games commenced Ian Chappell speculated in one of his columns that the possibility of a team scoring five hundred was on the cards! No team has got nowhere near!

There were a few scores of three hundred. Many sixes were hit on the smaller St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Trinidad grounds. Australia has been the team with most big scores to their credit. Mathew Hayden has led the way. He has taken the attack to the bowlers. What he has got right has been selecting the correct deliveries to attack. Even when he advances down the pitch to the pacemen he has been balanced to strike the ball.

Ricky Ponting the Australian Captain has also been a consistent accumulator of runs. He came into this tournament as the batsman in top form, scoring heavily in both test and ODI games. Ponting’s technique, shot selection and execution are excellent. He is in peak condition.

The most measured knocks have been produced by Sanath Jayasuriya, A.B. de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen. Jayasuriya and de Villiers scored at the expense of the West Indians while Pietersen scored against arch rivals Australia.

Sri Lanka’s veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya, gave an object lesson on how to see through the new ball in the early overs and then accelerate as the early movement off the pitch reduces. Once he got into the twenties, it was prominent that he was on the lookout to attack. As it happens so often when Jayasuriya plays a big innings in ODI’s a major portion of the scoring was square of the wicket on both sides. He also shielded Mahela Jayawardena during the early part of their partnership. Jayasuriya handled more roles than one during the 101 ball stay, for 115 runs which included ten fours and four sixes and the partnership realized 183 match winning runs.

A.B. de Villiers made the most of the opportunity that he got. The West Indians missed a number of run out opportunities during the early part of the de Villiers – Kallis partnership. Once both players got a measure of the pitch they were simply unstoppable. In fact the West Indians played on two very good one day pitches, against Australia and South Africa. On both occasions the West Indians got caned and the ask was two great for the batsmen to handle.

England’s Kevin Pietersen continues to look impressive and has matured in the past twelve months. Either he or Paul Collingwood have excelled whenever England have got sufficient runs to win a game. On this occasion, England were in command at 160 for 2 wickets with Ian Bell and Pietersen on five.

The Australians are so good in tight situations. They hung on until the breakthrough came - that of Bell. They got the chance and slipped into top gear. Bell fell at 164. Then two more wickets of 167 and 179 pushed England back and once Pietersen fell after a well made century the rest struggled. A target of 247 was not going to trouble or stretch the Australians.

Other batsmen to get amongst the runs have been Graeme Smith, Stephen Fleming, Scot Styris and Michael Clarke. Correct technique and precise shot selection are requirements to succeed on these tracks on offer in the West Indies.

It provides for an absorbing tussle between bat and ball. Not as what most batsmen would like, it takes a lot of hard work to pile on the runs.