We saw a lot of interesting tactics used in cricket in 2015, but what about 2016? Has it lived up to last year’s expectations? Have we, for instance, seen anything as interesting as a team fielding without a wicketkeeper? Brendon McCullum’s retirement was a big blow. As an aggressive (or should we say ‘crazy’) captain, he was bound to give us at least one interesting tactic, or at the very least, a funky field placement.
But arguably, 2016 might even have upped the ‘innovative tactics’ quotient. So without further ado, let’s look back at some innovative, strange or downright bizarre tactics used in 2016.
#1 The ‘deal’ in the title-deciding County Championship match
This year probably had the most thrilling end to a County Championship in recent times. And not just the most thrilling, but also the most controversial! The final match of the season - Middlesex v Yorkshire, was going to decide who would win the title, but it had an added twist. A Middlesex or Yorkshire win would have instantly seen either of them being crowned champions. But a draw would see Somerset, who had already won their match and were watching this one on television, become champions for the first time.
With Middlesex 201/3 in the third innings at lunch on the final day, the match seemed to be heading for an inevitable draw. But that was when the ‘deal’ or ‘agreement’ between the two captains – Middlesex’s New Zealander James Franklin and Yorkshire’s feisty Andrew Gale – took place. The agreement was that one of their teams would win, and they wouldn’t allow the match to be drawn!
Somerset fans and players watched on in disbelief as Yorkshire’s part-time bowlers Alex Lees and Adam Lyth bowled terrible balls intentionally to enable Middlesex to score quickly and then declare. Middlesex declared their innings with Franklin giving his wicket away to Lyth, seemingly as a return-gift for spoiling his bowling average!
Yorkshire were set 240 to win from 40 overs, the score agreed-upon by the 2 captains. They eventually fell short, all-out for 178 (with 28 balls left) as a Toby Roland-Jones hat-trick inspired Middlesex to a Championship title after a 23-year wait. Of course, even though there were 28 balls left, there was no question of Yorkshire batting out for a draw at the end since they had already agreed to play for a result.
Neither the winner nor the loser could have any complaints about the final result of the game. But the team you have to feel sorry for is Somerset, who watched dazed, as a first title which looked so likely a few hours ago, slipped away thanks to the agreement between Yorkrshire and Middlesex!
#2 The psych-out tactics
Let’s take a trip back in time to 24 October 2016, to the ICC Cricket Academy Ground, Dubai. What’s the occasion, you ask? It’s the final of the Physical Disability (T20) Tri-Series between England Physical Disability XI and the Pakistan Physical Disability XI.
England’s Liam Thomas stole the headlines for diving and stopping a boundary even though his prosthetic leg came off in the process. But for some reason, the tactic adopted by England wicketkeeper Hugo Hammond while batting didn’t get as much attention (even the few articles that mentioned it didn’t contain his name). So what did he do?
Using the bat like a heavy one-handed sword, the right-hander proceeded to slash the air with it like a warrior, as the bowler was in his run-up. He even had the time to change to a left-hander’s stance and back again before scooping the ball to the left of short fine leg for a boundary.
Great skill, no doubt. But as expected, questions were immediately raised about whether it is in the spirit of the game (it is undoubtedly legal) to move around so extravagantly and unnecessarily just to distract the bowler. Does swinging the bat like he did amount to intimidation?
In the last few years, and especially after the advent of the switch hit, we have seen batsmen moving in the crease on a constant basis. If that is fine, shouldn’t this be okay as well? And a good bowler wouldn’t really be put off by such antics, and would instead consider it an extra incentive to get the batsman out.
We probably have to accept that this kind of moving in the crease to put off the bowler is going to happen more and more, especially in the shorter formats, and give Hammond the benefit of the doubt for his psych-out tactic.
#3 Du Plessis’s Warner-avoiding declaration
Anyone who has watched Francois ‘Faf’ du Plessis play cricket for some time will agree that he is crafty and has a shrewd cricketing brain. When the South African was appointed temporary Test captain for the Australia series with AB de Villiers injured, the only questions asked were about his batting form, not his leadership abilities.
After 2 Tests of the 3-Test series, du Plessis’s South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead, thanks to some outstanding bowling from Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada. In the meantime, du Plessis was levelled with a ball-tampering charge by the ICC and was found guilty at the end of the series.
So with all this preying on his mind, he could have been forgiven for not being at his best captaincy-wise in the 3rd Test – a day-night match at Adelaide.
But while batting brilliantly on 118 not out and with South Africa at 259 for 9, du Plessis, noticing that David Warner had been off the field for some time, decided to declare (after just 76 overs) to make sure that Warner couldn’t come out straight away to open the batting as he normally does.
Of course, the rule is that if you’re off the field for more than a certain amount of time, you must spend the same amount of time on the field before you’re allowed to bat or bowl again. As Warner had 6 more minutes to go on the field he would not be allowed to bat, Australia had to make an annoyed Usman Khawaja open with debutant Matt Renshaw.
It didn’t work out well for du Plessis, though, with Khawaja notching up a century, and Australia winning the dead rubber easily.
#4 All Change for Australia
Australia’s embarrassing defeats in the first two Tests against South Africa meant heads would roll before the 3rd Test at Adelaide. The Selection Chairman Rod Marsh resigned after hitting his nadir by leaving out fast bowler Jackson Bird from the squad for not scoring enough runs. Trevor Hohns, already a selector, took his place as Chairman.
All the players were made to play Sheffield Shield matches between the 2nd and 3rd Tests, and these matches took on a huge relevance, as at least 7 places in the national team were possibly up for grabs. The Shield matches were watched with huge interest, with some of the leading contenders scoring runs and taking wickets.
The selectors finally decided that there would be six new faces in the squad. Six! The last time Australia made these many changes between 2 Tests was all the way back in 1984. And that was actually between 2 consecutive Test series against the West Indies (not Tests in the same series), so the current change was even more radical!
Batsmen Joe Burns, Callum Ferguson (after his debut Test), Adam Voges (who had concussion, but was expected to be dropped anyway), wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and fast bowler Joe Mennie were discarded, and 4 uncapped players, Peter Handscomb, Matt Renshaw, Nic Maddinson and Chadd Sayers, were selected alongside wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and fast bowler Jackson Bird (there was an extra player added).
It might even have been 7 changes, with the struggling Nathan Lyon only getting selected because his likely replacement Stephen O’Keefe got injured at the last moment.
Sayers has been around the squad for a while, and despite all his wickets in the Sheffield Shield, is curiously seen as an ‘Adelaide Oval specialist’. His wait for a debut continued, but the 3 young batsmen did get their ‘Baggy Greens’. Renshaw, 20, early into his career, is already seen as a run-accumulator. Maddinson, a questionable selection ahead of Kurtis Patterson, was presumably picked to provide some big hitting at Number 6.
Handscomb, the Sheffield Shield top-scorer, had been banging on the national selection door for some time, and got a double century in the Shield match before the Test to ensure selection. Wade, never seen as a great keeper, was selected apparently because of his sledging skills.
Did the changes work? Well, Australia coasted to victory in the 3rd Test, with Handscomb getting an impressive 50 and Renshaw occupying the crease for a long time. Renshaw made his first Test 50 against Pakistan at the Gabba in the next series, and Handsomb scored a maiden Test hundred in the same match. Wade and Maddinson haven’t exactly impressed, while the consistent Bird took wickets like he has always done when given a chance. So all in all, most of the selection changes seem to have paid off.
#5 Shepherding ALL the batswomen
There is no doubt about the winner of the ‘Scorecard of the year’ award. That clearly has to go to the scorecard of the Mpumalanga Under-19s Women v Easterns Under-19s Women T20 match at Pretoria (12th December). 17-year old opener Shania-Lee Swart scored an unbeaten 160 as her teammates scored a hard-to-believe ZERO runs between them. There were 9 extras as Mpumalanga ended up with 169.
But how is this a tactic, you ask? According to the teenager’s father, the other girls were struggling against the Eastern bowlers, so Swart decided to keep most of the strike with wickets tumbling at the other end. This is a tactic employed by batsmen batting with the tail in Test matches, keeping most of the strike and shepherding the tail. But the difference was that Swart was shepherding all the other batswomen.
Swart herself explained that she was looking to be on strike at the start of every over, so she generally tried to take a single on the 5th ball of the over. Amazingly, Swart faced 86 balls (14.2 overs) in the 20-over match and even took 2 wickets as well.
She also scored a stunning 289 out of her team’s 352 a few days before the match in question.
#6 The Mankad which decided the match
The U-19 World Cup seems so long ago that you could be forgiven for forgetting that it took place this year. But it did, and on 2nd February, eventual champions West Indies eliminated Zimbabwe in the most controversial circumstances. With Zimbabwe 9 down and requiring 3 runs to win in the last over, West Indies bowler Keemo Paul decided to break the stumps before his delivery stride. He had seen the non-striker outside his crease, and decided to ‘Mankad’ him without the customary warning.
The form of dismissal called the ‘Mankad’ is named after the legendary Indian all-rounder Vinoo Mankad, who was the first one to run the non-striker out (Australian batsman Bill Brown) by breaking the stumps instead of bowling the ball at the end of his run up. Mankad actually did this twice to Brown, once in a tour match, and then in a Test match in 1947. Australia’s captain, Don Bradman himself had no problem with this, as he saw it as an entirely acceptable form of dismissal.
We see batsmen being Mankaded (and bowlers warning non-strikers out of their crease) from time-to-time in both international and first-class cricket, but the main difference with the Mankading in the U-19 match was that it decided the result, as this was the last man being dismissed. Add to this the fact that Paul did not give the non-striker a warning before running the non-striker out, and you have a ready-made controversy.
A lot of ex-cricketers and commentators, of course, came out and said that this was against the spirit of the game. While it was a disappointing end to a gripping match and one did feel sorry for Zimbabwe, to say that it wasn’t in the spirit of the game is complete nonsense! It is the non-striker’s responsibility to stay inside the crease when the bowler is in his run-up, it is he who is going against the spirit of the game by trying to steal a couple of yards that will help him reach the other side quickly.
The Mankad is a legitimate way of getting a non-striker out. The laws do not require the bowler to give the non-striker a warning, and it definitely should not matter if the batting team is 2-down or 9-down at the time of the Mankad!
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