WHITE BALL CRICKET

Before I start, I have to put up my hand and confess I never played cricket with a white ball – other than the white ( plastic ) hockey ball we used to use in the Shankill Indoor Cricket league back in the 70's. That used to swing beautifully, but as I understand it, the modern white cricket ball does not behave in the same way as the red ball. That is not to say the white ball does not swing, because I have seen older hands getting movement.

However, when I watch now, not only do the bowlers seem unable to swing a ball, but they have no interest in trying to keep the shine on the ball, and leave the task to someone else. This I cannot understand. It is in your own interest as a bowler to know how the ball you are using is going to behave, and to do your best to condition it appropriately. I watch fielders vigorously rubbing the ball , but are they rubbing the one side all the time, and are they using sweat / saliva to moisten the same side? That was the technique with the red ball, and it worked . (Edit : I understand saliva is not allowed )

So now I ask myself if young bowlers are even being taught how to swing or cut the ball? We seem to have any number of bowlers who have a bit of pace, but seem intent on trying to bounce batsmen out or bowl so many variations that the batsman doesn't know what's coming next and it all becomes a lottery. They will all discover that when they come up against a good batsman, unless they are 85 /90 mph men , ( and none of them are ), then they will be found wanting and the boundary toll will increase. I would suggest that a bit more subtlety is required. I can count on one hand the number of batsmen I have seen dismissed by a good ball this season. Most wickets fall when the batsman holes out in the deep or gets himself out playing the wrong shot. Which begs the big question. Why can bowlers not beat the batsman and actually take wickets? It has to come back to coaches, and perhaps more importantly, to the use of the white ball, and the general drift towards cricket becoming entirely a batsman's game.

As I understand it, the switch to white ball cricket has been directed from above. In which case, I ask the question, do those on high really want Irish Cricket to compete at the highest level? Because if the answer is yes, then why on earth are we not teaching young bowlers the skills they need to be able to do so? The current system will spiral downwards at a very alarming rate unless this is reversed. If young players grow up in this system, then they are unaware of anything else, and it will become the norm, in which case, heaven help us.

In some ways, the same ailments seem to be afflicting the spin bowlers. Back in the day, several of our promising young spin bowlers tried their hand at county cricket, and one by one they came home and had lost their magic. They had all suffered the fate of being told to bowl flatter . Gone was the guile of flight that brought them success in the first place. One exception, of course, was Dermot Monteith. He had learnt the old way , and used subtle variations of flight and length to succeed at all levels. It is therefore a delight to me to watch Bashir bowling the old fashioned way for England, and succeeding in getting batsmen out. There is nothing subtle about a modern bat launching the ball to the back of the stands, but a subtle variation of pace could well result in that same shot going vertical rather than over the ropes. Bowler 1 , batsman 0.

Are we so caught up in trying to keep up with the Joneses that we have to do what the so-called experts say, (and how many of them actually played at a high level?) or should we not step back and look at the wider picture?

 I might just go off on a tangent, finally, and ask the question as to why in this modern day of fantastic technical know-how and expertise, someone cannot develop a surface for the white ball that imitates the old red one, or is the intention to make bowlers the cannon fodder of a game for batsmen.