Amid the crash and bash of T20 cricket, bowlers have slowly reclaimed control in Tests and the game is better for it

Conversations surrounding cricket since the introduction of the shorter formats of the game have been dominated by the balance of power between the bat and ball.

The dominance of batters all over the world was worrying for purists of the game, with batters piling on century after century on pitches resembling highways — not a great spectacle for even the biggest cricket lover, let alone new fans trying to get into the sport.

While T20 matches, particularly in the IPL, seem to be entirely weighted towards the batters, the ball appears to be seizing back some of the power at the Test level and the sport is better off for it.

Last week, Sri Lanka became the latest side to be rolled for an astoundingly low score, having been blown away for just 42 at Durban against South Africa, in an innings that barely lasted an hour. It was the second-shortest innings — in terms of balls faced — recorded in the history of Test cricket.

Sri Lanka is the second full-member nation to be rolled for less than 50 in a Test within the last few months, after India was dismissed for just 46 in Bengaluru against New Zealand en route to a 3-0 series defeat at home.

Bowlers may not be getting their way in the shorter formats of the game, and perhaps never will, but in the longer form, it seems that we are getting a more even contest over the last decade.

Cricket fans often exclusively associate fireworks in the sport with batters getting off the leash and plundering ball after ball into — and sometimes over — the stands. However, there remains something just as exhilarating about a bowler having his tail up and running through a batting line-up.

Of all the periods of play from India’s win over Australia in Perth last week, the most exciting stretch of the Test was Jasprit Bumrah reducing Australia’s batting line-up to its knees late on day one.

The bowlers are back, and it is good news for just about all of us — unless you’re the one having to face them.

The numbers behind the resurgence of the ball in Tests

Assessing the numbers in Test cricket over the last decade compared to the decade that preceded it makes for some interesting reading.

Firstly, of the 50 lowest team scores in Test cricket history, nine of them have come inside the last 10 years, headlined by India’s infamous 36 all out against Australia in Adelaide in 2020.

That 36 was the lowest score by any team since the turn of the century, slightly ahead of Ireland’s capitulation against England at Lord’s in 2019, where they were rolled for 38.

New Zealand’s 26 all out against England in Auckland in 1955 remains the record low in Test cricket, a mark that will take some serious beating.

In the last decade of Test matches played, the batting average of almost every single Test-playing nation has dropped since the previous decade.

In Test matches played between 2004 and 2013, South Africa led the way, averaging 39.38 runs per wicket, slightly ahead of Australia’s 38.49.

Australia has reclaimed the lead over the last decade, but its average of 35.92 runs per wicket in the last decade is a figure that would have ranked sixth-best between 2004 and 2013.

In a decade where almost every other country has found batting tougher, New Zealand has bucked the trend completely, upping its average from 30.49 in matches played between 2004 and 2013, to 35.35 in the last decade, ranking second behind Australia.

South Africa has endured the most dramatic drop-off over the last decade, averaging just 28.83 per wicket down from 39.38, while Sri Lanka has gone from averaging 36.74 in Tests between 2004 and 2013 to just 31.14 in Tests over the last decade.

A deeper look into the Proteas’ numbers over the last decade shows that they’ve been rolled for lower scores with far more regularity over the last decade.

In the 95 Tests South Africa has played in the last 10 years, they’ve been bowled out for under 150 on 18 occasions. In the decade preceding that one, they were dismissed below 150 just seven times.

Australia has been rolled for less than 150 on 13 occasions in the past decade, up from just eight times in the decade prior.

Simply put, teams are getting rolled, and they’re getting rolled more often.

A combination of factors for the low scores

A look at the numbers demands the question: What is behind the low scores? There are multiple reasons.

One of them is quite simple — some of the greatest batters in Test cricket history transitioned out of the game prior to this last decade.

Test cricket’s top four run-getters of all-time, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid, all played their best cricket somewhere between 2004 and 2013 as they rocketed up the run-scoring charts. All four players retired over a decade ago. England’s Alastair Cook, who ranks sixth all-time, retired in 2018, while Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, seventh all-time, retired in 2015.

Of the top 20 run scorers in Test cricket history, three are South Africans, with Kallis joined by Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith. Kallis and Smith retired in 2013 and 2014, respectively, while Amla pulled up stumps in 2019.

The departures of this trio and AB de Villiers, who retired from Tests in 2018, left South Africa’s batting stocks bare, particularly over the last five years.

Players like these simply do not grow on trees, and while their production is great when they’re around, the void they leave behind them after retirement proves to be difficult to fill. Sometimes it takes generations to replace all-timers. Just ask the West Indies.

Out of the top 20 Test run scorers of all time, only Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson have played for the entirety of the last decade. Williamson’s arrival, coupled with the production from his long-time running mate Ross Taylor, was likely behind the Black Caps bucking the trend of averages over the last decade in Tests.

This generation’s players have also been forced to contend with tougher batting conditions compared to their predecessors.

Prior to this year’s series against India, Smith spoke about the rise in difficulty of batting in recent years, particularly in Australia.

“The wickets were probably better back then, and the ball didn’t have as big a seam, which meant there were fewer good deliveries to get you out. Now, with grassier pitches and more pronounced seams, batters are more likely to face that unplayable ball every now and then. It’s certainly more challenging,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The game has flipped on its head in Australia. Between the early 2000s and 2018, pitches were more batter-friendly, but now the combination of grass on wickets and the newer balls has shifted the balance.”

While the pitches have become more bowler-friendly, as Smith mentioned, a slight tweak in the ball has also made things more difficult for the batters.

In recent years, Kookaburra, which produces the ball for Test matches played in the majority of the world, has slightly raised the seam of the ball, allowing it to move laterally for longer periods even as it ages. Where batters previously may have made hay against the older ball, batting is now consistently more difficult. That is before you even factor in reverse swing.

“The ball now creates more divots and lasts longer, making it harder for batters,” Australian opener Usman Khawaja said.

“Previously, green wickets flattened out quicker because the ball’s seam wasn’t as pronounced. Now, with the raised seam, the ball remains effective longer and makes batting a constant battle.”

Batters such as Khawaja and Smith, who do the majority of their work against the newer ball, are suddenly finding that extended periods of dominance over the ball they may have experienced earlier on in their careers are few and far between.

The players wielding the willow may be bemoaning the resurgence of the ball.

But for the bowlers as well as the fans in the stands and watching on at home, the renewed battle between bat and ball is a sight to behold.