Back in 2012, while reporting on South Africa’s Tour of England, I was standing on the boundary at Trent Bridge when a representative from equipment company Gunn & Moore arrived with a new bat for then Proteas captain Graeme Smith.
The rep wouldn’t let me touch the thing, but I didn’t need to - the sight of those edges was enough. It looked to me as if you could use that bat side-on and middle any ball to the boundary. I told the G&M guy that and he laughed and said I was probably right.
Bat dominating ball has been an intriguing debate for much of the last two decades. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) cricket committee, which counts former players like Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara among its members, suggested a change to the laws governing specifications for bats. Previously, there were no specs regarding the edges of bats but that’s all set to change from October this year when the new laws will be implemented at professional level. Bats can no longer have edges that are more than 4cm thick.
With mis-hits flying for sixes, it’s clear batsmen have had a distinct advantage in recent years, but there’s also another issue the MCC and International Cricket Council need to look at in their attempts to make the game a better contest and by extension a better spectacle - and that’s the preparation of pitches. The best way to even up the contest - in whatever format - is to ensure that pitches are fairer.
In other words, offer a balance between bat and ball.
We actually saw that in Dunedin on day one of the first Test between New Zealand and South Africa. The going was tough early on and then later in the final session against the new ball, but as Dean Elgar showed, if you were patient and willing to graft, rich rewards awaited.
One-Day cricket and T20 cricket has made batsmen lazy to some extent. In those formats, particularly the latter, entertainment is paramount and that is measured by how many runs are being scored. So, the ball comes on to the bat - there’s little if any sideways movement and the bounce is not disconcerting. Thus, it’s a case of stand still and swing freely and, with the help of bigger bats, the ball invariably flew further.
But sanctioning bat sizes is only one step in readdressing the imbalance that’s occurred in the game in the last two decades. The most important one for cricket’s authorities to take is to ensure pitches provide for a more balanced contest. As Dunedin is showing and Bangalore showed earlier in the week, when there’s something for the bowlers to target, the game is a far more engaging spectacle.