I've noticed in recent months a couple of posters have made fun of the old practice of scheduling a Rest Day after Day 3 of a Test match.
It seems to be viewed as a quaint old tradition steeped in amateurism, a relic of a gentler, less professional time.
And so I am writing now to explain how it was exactly the opposite.
Consider the recent Third Test between Australia and India at the MCG. It went something like this:
Day 1: India 215-2
Day 2: India 443-7 declared. Australia 8-0.
Day 3: Australia 151 all out. India declined to invoke the Follow-on, batted again and scored 54-5 in 27 overs.
This is a perfect illustration of how the end of the Rest Day has seen the game become LESS ATTACKING, with captains terrified of invoking the Follow-On for fear of their bowlers breaking down from overwork with insufficient rest.
In the era of the Rest Day, Virat Kohli would have known that his bowlers faced a maximum workload of 27 overs on Day 3, followed by a guaranteed day without having to bowl.
But he had no such reassurance now. Australia might have survived those 27 overs plus 90 the next day (okay, unlikely without Warner and Smith, but you get the point).
He could not take the risk of that, so he chose to bat again.
In fact, the elimination of the Rest Day has had three long-term effects on international cricket.
1. More bowlers have suffered serious long-term overwork injuries in the form of Stress Fractures.
2. Fast bowling has got measurably slower.
3. Captains hardly ever invoke the Follow-On.
Consider the case of the 1975-76 Australia v West Indies Test match at the WACA ground in Perth.
As has been extensively discussed elsewhere, that match saw the use of the most accurate high-speed cameras ever used in cricket, 500 frame per second Photo-Sonics which were 20 times more accurate than the 25 frame per second speed cameras used today.
In that one match alone, the following speeds were recorded in the actual match:
Jeff Thomson 160.45
Andy Roberts 159.49
Michael Holding 150.67
Dennis Lillee 148.54
It is inconceivable today that four bowlers could bowl so fast in a Test match.
And the reasons are simple: fast bowlers today do not have the luxury of a guaranteed break through a Rest Day in mid-Test, so they have to operate within themselves to maintain their fitness and stamina.
( I would add a second factor too. The elimination of the Eight Ball over has reduced the time between overs from around 6 minutes to less than 5 minutes. That makes a huge difference to fast bowlers.)
The Rest Day wasn't a quaint gentleman's tradition. It - along with Eight Ball Overs - was a large part of the reason why bowlers in the recent past bowled so much faster than today's quicks can.
It seems to be viewed as a quaint old tradition steeped in amateurism, a relic of a gentler, less professional time.
And so I am writing now to explain how it was exactly the opposite.
Consider the recent Third Test between Australia and India at the MCG. It went something like this:
Day 1: India 215-2
Day 2: India 443-7 declared. Australia 8-0.
Day 3: Australia 151 all out. India declined to invoke the Follow-on, batted again and scored 54-5 in 27 overs.
This is a perfect illustration of how the end of the Rest Day has seen the game become LESS ATTACKING, with captains terrified of invoking the Follow-On for fear of their bowlers breaking down from overwork with insufficient rest.
In the era of the Rest Day, Virat Kohli would have known that his bowlers faced a maximum workload of 27 overs on Day 3, followed by a guaranteed day without having to bowl.
But he had no such reassurance now. Australia might have survived those 27 overs plus 90 the next day (okay, unlikely without Warner and Smith, but you get the point).
He could not take the risk of that, so he chose to bat again.
In fact, the elimination of the Rest Day has had three long-term effects on international cricket.
1. More bowlers have suffered serious long-term overwork injuries in the form of Stress Fractures.
2. Fast bowling has got measurably slower.
3. Captains hardly ever invoke the Follow-On.
Consider the case of the 1975-76 Australia v West Indies Test match at the WACA ground in Perth.
As has been extensively discussed elsewhere, that match saw the use of the most accurate high-speed cameras ever used in cricket, 500 frame per second Photo-Sonics which were 20 times more accurate than the 25 frame per second speed cameras used today.
In that one match alone, the following speeds were recorded in the actual match:
Jeff Thomson 160.45
Andy Roberts 159.49
Michael Holding 150.67
Dennis Lillee 148.54
It is inconceivable today that four bowlers could bowl so fast in a Test match.
And the reasons are simple: fast bowlers today do not have the luxury of a guaranteed break through a Rest Day in mid-Test, so they have to operate within themselves to maintain their fitness and stamina.
( I would add a second factor too. The elimination of the Eight Ball over has reduced the time between overs from around 6 minutes to less than 5 minutes. That makes a huge difference to fast bowlers.)
The Rest Day wasn't a quaint gentleman's tradition. It - along with Eight Ball Overs - was a large part of the reason why bowlers in the recent past bowled so much faster than today's quicks can.
