Over rates. (Cautious) mitigations. Timekeepers?

Much is made in today's cricket of slow, or deadly slow, over rates.

Most heatedly in Tests - since progress of play over 5 days, 30 hours+ and 450 overs can be gradual enough as it is, we don't need leisurely evolution to be turned into a sub-funereal drag. ~ Quite apart from the disrespect suggested to the public, and gamesmanship (or plain cheating) often implied.

Objections to esp. tardy over rates - worst, deliberately slowed over rates - are surely unanswerable. But sanctions still generally seem derisory, even in the worst cases. Maybe it's a lack of will. Maybe it's also through an awareness there may be extenuating factors?


Sticking my neck out, then ... There are heaps of factors that can slow down over rates, and I can think of a dozen of these that are no fault of the fielding side. And these seem to have grown in recent years (see 10-12).

1) Dismissals. Okay, each of these is supposed to take only 2 mins out of the hour. But a couple of these will cost an over. (And then, the time limit never seems to be enforced, so more time taken out of the hour.)

2) Batsman tics/superstitions and "gardening". - Jonathan Trott's rigmarole was nothing new (* - see below). This may be considered timewasting - and at times, it surely is. But some of it, from taking an initial or fresh guard to surveying the field (and so on), has always been at least tolerated as a batsman's nervous prerogative.

3) Batsmen conferences. - Similar comments as for 2).

4) Ambient problems. Sightscreens, light flashes, crowd disturbances, movement behind the bowler's arm, flares, streakers, nuclear bombs, etc. - If the batsman pulls away, similar comment again to 2). But some of the delay in such cases appears legitimate on the part of the batsman. And certainly no fault of the bowler. And it happens. And a wonky sightscreen (or similar interruption) can eat up bloody minutes.

5) Umpire conferences. - Bad light? light meters, floodlight problems & discussions, onset of rain .....?

6) Pitch problems. Run-up problems (esp delivery stride), discussion of other pitch problems, occasionally a developing outfield problem (though usu spotted before play). - Now, if the bowler has caused this - especially deliberately! - any delay (and perhaps other offences) will be his fault. But more often not.

7) Injuries. Of any sort. (Obvious.)

8 ) Condition of the ball. - Seems to have become more common than in the distant past? Though umpires poking at a misshapen ball, where necessary brought a boxful of balls to consider, blah-blah, appear to be slightly less common than the epidemic (manufacturing flaws or bowler's games?) 10 or so years past, it still seems to happen Again, may be a bowler's ploy. But certainly not always.

9) "Lost ball". - Rarer. Only likely to be a time-losing factor (e.g. umpires brought another box of replacement balls) if the bowlers are bowling crap and the batsmen powerful enough to dispatch said crap to kingdom come and the car park. So perhaps blame the bowler for the crap. All the same.....

Some other factors seem to have grown, or to be fairly recent additions to the list:

10) "Change of gloves/bat". - an offshoot of 2). Apart from chilled gloves on sweltering days, has the epidemic passed of messages sent out with gloves? And are hard-pressed clubs a bit less likely to crack, splinter and come apart than a few years ago? .... Umpires do try to hurry this on, but it still goes on, and it can bite into an over rate.

11) Drinks breaks. - Inevitable in sauna conditions, and imposed by H&S considerations of rehydration. But .... memory may be playing me tricks, but I don't remember drinks being de rigueur every hour on, say, a cool (or freezing) day in England. It sometimes seems more sponsor-driven than entirely necessary. And the 5-6 minutes it takes may not seem much, as players slurp & chinwag ... but it can knock virtually two overs out of a session.

12) Third Umpire referrals, and DRS (where used). ~ Sometimes this seems to go on for ever.  Get two of these in an hour, with replays from 14 angles and elements of doubt, and 4 or 5 overs may be gone.

Take any three, four or five of the above in an hour, and you have a recipe for a disastrous over rate - even if you resort to spinners.


So, apart from all this bleeding-heart crap in extenuation of fielding teams with subpar numbers of overs in an hour ........ what might help?

Well, maybe 2 timekeepers, along with the scorers?

To stop the clock with every significant stoppage in play? (< you'd no doubt have to omit 2 & 3.) Unlike Rugby Union, you needn't display a public clock on actual play. But for over-rate accounting purposes, you could then time a BIT more accurately how many overs have ACTUALLY been achieved per hour. ....... And on that basis, you could reasonably hammer fielding sides who fall short of a reasonably set minimum.

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(*) Re: IJT Trott and others being nothing new under the sun ....

In his "Book of Cricketers", Arlott writes this about the record-breaking batsman Philip Mead (who retired in 1936).

"At the fall of the second Hampshire wicket, he would come out of the pavilion, lined face placidly sad, eyes heavy-lidded: a pear-shaped body set on powerfully bowed legs; walking with a semi-truculent, unhurried roll. He took his left-handed guard and then, bat hoist on hip, he gently touched his cap four times to the bowler (which wore out dozens of cap peaks); tapped his bat four times on the ground: and took four small, shuffling steps up to it until the bowler could see neither daylight nor stumps between bat and pad. Only when he had completed this ritual did he allow the bowler to deliver: and when - as happened more than once - some artful opponent tried to hurry him, or bowl before he was ready, he stood away, stopped him, and started the whole thing over again."

(Apparently Mead had a S/R of around 40 an hour in county cricket; 48,892 runs for Hants alone; Test average just under 50, incl av of 51.87 v Australia.)

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/16993.html

My short answer would be this- In most domestic cricket around the world, they're able to bowl around 100 overs a day. It doesn't happen in international cricket because the majority of international cricketers are over-paid pansies who have no respect for the paying public or the game, and fines for slow over-rates aren't a big enough deterrent for them.

Well, maybe 2 timekeepers, along with the scorers?

To stop the clock with every significant stoppage in play? (< you'd no doubt have to omit 2 & 3.) Unlike Rugby Union, you needn't display a public clock on actual play. But for over-rate accounting purposes, you could then time a BIT more accurately how many overs have ACTUALLY been achieved per hour. ....... And on that basis, you could reasonably hammer fielding sides who fall short of a reasonably set minimum.


Timekeepers is an excellent start.

The batsman can ****** around all he wants but if he's not ready when the bowler gets to the top of his mark, stiff bikkies.

Maybe the fielding side should appeal for timed out (I'm sure Gilly came close to doing it as fill in skipper in India). Obviously you don't want to be the first to do it, but a warning a la mankadding might help.

At the end of every session use the corrected time to ascertain the overs that should have been bowled(this could be relayed to the captain throughout the session) and then add five runs to the batting side for every over, session by session. If the correct number of overs haven't been bowled at the end of the day an automatic suspension for the captain for the next match and forfeiture of all match fees for the fielding side.

I know most of our recent captains couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time or speak in correct sentences, but they should be able to count.

Pete

All your excuses are taken into account in determining slow over rate penalties ...the fielding team is given allowances for all time delays that are not by them or for things not in the normal course of the game

eg they get an allowance for a dodgy bowling run up or to fix bowlers footholes or for injuries....but they dont get allowances for conferences between the fielding teams players

The Match Referee needs to be given a big stick and the authority to use it ...financial penalties and run penalties come to mind

The WACA comp has a 6 run per over penalty for slow over rates ...we have had several matches with changed results because of the addition of penalties after an innings has ended

[quote="embee"]Pete

All your excuses are taken into account in determining  slow over rate penalties ...the fielding team is given allowances for all time delays that are not by them or for things not in the normal course of the game

eg they get an allowance for a dodgy bowling run up or to fix bowlers footholes or for injuries....but they dont get allowances for conferences between the fielding teams players

The Match Referee needs to be given a big stick and the authority to use it ...financial penalties and run penalties come to mind

The WACA comp has a 6 run per over penalty for slow over rates ...we have had several matches with changed results because of the addition of penalties after an innings has ended [/quote]

A bit harder at a local level I know, but I would have thought a theoretical running tally might alleviate that.