England's Failed Four-Bowler fixation

 

 

Ashes 2013

 

The four bowler question

 

September 10^th

 
 

[10:00 CEST] Over the years England have used a four bowler attack mainly successfully in Tests. There are occasions when it has backfired spectacularly, such as in the Caribbean in 1986 when bowlers were sacrificed to try to strengthen a batting line-up that failed consistently to supply the runs that the attack could have defended, even at full strength. The normal justification has been the lack of an all-rounder good enough to make a five-bowler attack a realistic option but, even with Andrew Flintoff in his pomp, the tendency was to play four bowlers more often than not.

In ODIs England have often used a four-man attack with a fifth bowler who was not a specialist, although much more than an occasional bowler: Ravi Bopara is typical of this type. The idea is that if you have a reliable non-specialist such as Bopara or Graeme Gooch, you can usually get away with 7 or 8 overs fairly cheaply leaving the balance to be bowled by a sixth bowler who shares the fifth bowler duties. Back in the 1979 World Cup Mike Brearley’s fertile mind saw that England could steal a march on their rivals by playing an extra batsman and asking Geoff Boycott to take major responsibility. This was no fly-by-night plan: he was warned months in advance that England would like to use his bowling as a serious weapon during the tournament. At the time, with Willis, Hendrick, Botham and Old to lead the attack, it looked like a pretty good option, although Bob Willis was in horrendous form and, in June, despite playing all Warwickshire’s Championship games, was still searching for his first First Class wicket!

As it turned out, the tactic of using Geoff Boycott worked so well that he actually topped the averages for the tournament, taking vital wickets and, particularly in the very tight, low-scoring game with Pakistan, when he had to be used as a death bowler; in that game his bowling was very much a match-winner. The fact that Geoff Boycott topped the averages is all the more remarkable because, in the Final, England came up against the one situation where the strategy would be a liability: a high-scoring game with batsmen on the attack. Boycott came in for real punishment for the only time in the tournament, yet his figures were still economical compared to the battering that Wayne Larkins (2 overs for 22) and Graeme Gooch took.

Fast forward to the Champions Trophy 2013. England used Ravi Bopara and Joe Root as their fifth bowler. When did the strategy come unstuck? In the only high-scoring match that England played, which was the Sri Lanka game. Joe Root’s figures of 0-27 from 3 overs were just the worst in a massive pasting for the bowlers. In such situations the lack of a front-line bowler to come back in the middle overs to wrest back control is a killer. Batsmen find that they can build momentum smoothly, without the interruption that two or three overs from a front-line bowler can provide. In low-scoring games the gentler pace of someone such as Ravi Bopara can be extremely difficult to get away, as the West Indies memorably discovered to their cost in the 1983 World Cup Final when India’s collection of gemtle medium-pacers, led by Mohinder Armanath, strangled the powerful West Indian batting as successfully as it had strangled England’s in the Semi-Final (in those two games, Armanath’s figures were an astonishing combined 19-1-39-5).

In the second ODI the four-bowler strategy came up against attacking batsmen on a friendly pitch: the same scenario in which it has failed previously. Had the match been one of those tense, low-scoring classics that people tend to forget are usually more thrilling entertainment than a high-scoring game, it is quite possible that the strategy would have worked perfectly. As it was, the situation was the worst possible, with the Australian batsmen setting out to attack Tredwell to stop him settling and attack the fifth bowler. Eoin Morgan did not have anyone to turn to to re-gain some control. When the new ball bowlers did come back, the batsmen were thoroughly enjoying themselves and Steve Finn, who had started with 5-1-25-1, went for 5-0-43-1 on his return.

The lesson that England should have learnt is that, if the day is dark and dank and the pitch difficult, a four-bowler strategy may well be a winning one. If the sun is shining and the pitch is full of runs, as it was on Saturday, it is likely to be a recipe for disaster. You need to be adaptable.

Tomorrow the forecast is for cold, overcast conditions, with some possibility of rain. This may well a situation in which the four-bowler strategy will work perfectly. England have tended to be a little formulaic in their approach to ODIs and not to be good at adapting to circumstances. This ODI series though is one in which a little adaptation may be essential if England are to have a chance of winning; they must think on their feet and be prepared to change the balance of the side and, even tomorrow, it may not be an entirely bad thing to bring in Chris Jordan, even if it is at the expense of Michael Carberry.

On the Australian front there are no such problems. The first match was so one-sided that a 4-0 rout must seem to them to be the most likely result of the series. Mitch Johnson has made yet another comeback to international cricket and was fast, nasty and very effective, leading to comments that he will be a key bowler this winter. Although he took 4-36 against Scotland and 2-36 against England, it is as well to remember that he has been notably less successful in previous ODIs this summer: 0-66 v West Indies, 1-52 v India, 0-44 v England, 0-18 v New Zealand, 3-48 v Sri Lanka (this last being his stand-out performance). With Mitchell Starc joining the Australian injury list – also with a stress fracture of the back – Mitch Johnson could well be called up by Australia this winter. Although he tends to be ridiculed by England fans, any signs of a renaissance should be watched with caution because a genuinely fast bowler who is applying real pressure would provide Australia with a weapon that could easily change the balance of power in the series. Johnson on song, partnering Ryan Harris, would be a real handful for England.