TheNightWatchman
First Class Star
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2015
- Runs
- 3,440
Modern batting has probably been the worst curse put on cricket in the past decade
Too much is being given to the batsmen these days and as a fast bowling fan it really annoys me.
Gone are the days where batsmen used to fear for their heads
or their toes 
Instead it's the bowlers that are fearing the batsmen now.
But it's not just cricket's future bowling that is suffering but also the HISTORY of batting
I fear the day (probably 10 years from now) someone will pick up a picture of this man
look up his record and dismiss him as a very ordinary batsmen based purely on his stats. An averae near 50 and a strike rate of 90 is considered pretty normal for today's batsmen in today's day and age but noone will know the genius that this man was.
Lets take a look at the past WC where we saw 2 400+ team totals scored in the space of a week.And we saw 2 200s within the space of a month. This was considered a complete rarity up until 2 years ago.
It is quiet ridiculous and ruined the WC for me as a fan. Making for the worst onesided games I have ever seen in the world cup. Bowlers are a mockery in cricket these days. Check out what one of the greatest fast bowlers of the game has to say (watch for the face palm)
[video]http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/856645.html[/video]
When Afridi blasted the fastest century in his VERY first ODI innings nobody at the time considered this record to be breakable and for 17 years it stood up. But within the space of 2 years we have seen this record been broken NOT ONCE but TWICE.
Another record..Saeed Anwar's 194...a score which broke Viv Richard's 13 year record for the highest score in ODIs. Anwar's record stood for 13 years itself before it was broken by none other than the little master himself
.
Now at the time...it seemed only appropriate that the biggest achievement in ODI history would go to one of the greatest batsmen to play the game. It seemed (to me atleast) that there was but ONE man on the planet that could achieve such a fete.
But just 2 years later that record was broken by a very ordinary innings from Virender Sehwag against a very ordinary bowling attack.
Since 2010 (when the first 200 was scored) the 200 run barrier has been crossed not ONCE, not TWICE, but FIVE times in the last 5 years. 2 of the scores by the same batsmen on the flattest tracks ever.
Not only did this take away the glamour of Sachin's first 200 but when batsmen MUCH inferior in skill to him are scoring like this it annoyed me. A record which hadn't been broken for 40 years since the first ODI had been played has been broken 6 times in the last 5 years. Let that sink in for a moment.
At this rate it is only inevitable Lara's 400 will be surpassed. The highest team total in ODI. The highest successful run chase and so on.
It is essential that these records must be preserved to retain the rich history of cricket batting.
Too much is being given to the batsmen these days and as a fast bowling fan it really annoys me.
Gone are the days where batsmen used to fear for their heads


Instead it's the bowlers that are fearing the batsmen now.
But it's not just cricket's future bowling that is suffering but also the HISTORY of batting
I fear the day (probably 10 years from now) someone will pick up a picture of this man

Lets take a look at the past WC where we saw 2 400+ team totals scored in the space of a week.And we saw 2 200s within the space of a month. This was considered a complete rarity up until 2 years ago.
It is quiet ridiculous and ruined the WC for me as a fan. Making for the worst onesided games I have ever seen in the world cup. Bowlers are a mockery in cricket these days. Check out what one of the greatest fast bowlers of the game has to say (watch for the face palm)
[video]http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/856645.html[/video]
When Afridi blasted the fastest century in his VERY first ODI innings nobody at the time considered this record to be breakable and for 17 years it stood up. But within the space of 2 years we have seen this record been broken NOT ONCE but TWICE.
Another record..Saeed Anwar's 194...a score which broke Viv Richard's 13 year record for the highest score in ODIs. Anwar's record stood for 13 years itself before it was broken by none other than the little master himself

Now at the time...it seemed only appropriate that the biggest achievement in ODI history would go to one of the greatest batsmen to play the game. It seemed (to me atleast) that there was but ONE man on the planet that could achieve such a fete.
But just 2 years later that record was broken by a very ordinary innings from Virender Sehwag against a very ordinary bowling attack.
Since 2010 (when the first 200 was scored) the 200 run barrier has been crossed not ONCE, not TWICE, but FIVE times in the last 5 years. 2 of the scores by the same batsmen on the flattest tracks ever.
Not only did this take away the glamour of Sachin's first 200 but when batsmen MUCH inferior in skill to him are scoring like this it annoyed me. A record which hadn't been broken for 40 years since the first ODI had been played has been broken 6 times in the last 5 years. Let that sink in for a moment.
At this rate it is only inevitable Lara's 400 will be surpassed. The highest team total in ODI. The highest successful run chase and so on.
It is essential that these records must be preserved to retain the rich history of cricket batting.