Pitfalls of pinch-hitting

Henry Blofeld
Thursday 23 May 1996 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Sri Lankans showed in the World Cup that on the slow sub-continental pitches pinch-hitting is a legitimate and highly successful tactic. On an Oval pitch with early moisture it is a hazardous pursuit.

By his very nature the pinch-hitter is giving the bowler every chance of taking his wicket and sides who employ these tactics will often find they have lost too many early wickets. One of the strengths of Sri Lanka's World Cup victory was that they won the final and the semi-final after losing both openers very cheaply.

In England, with pitches allowing the seam bowlers movement early on, openers with the more modest intentions of the traditional opening batsman are in danger. The first English wicket to fall was that of Michael Atherton who was drawn into a forward stroke by an outswinger from Venkatesh Prasad.

At the other end, in his first international outing, Alistair Brown was already emphasising the huge gap between county and international cricket as well as the dangers of pinch-hitting in English conditions. He should have been caught in the slips off his second ball.

With Atherton gone and another pinch-hitter, Neil Smith, joining Brown, England looked in trouble at an early stage. As it was, Brown had a fair amount of luck and played a few resounding strokes while Smith produced four of the best strokes of the day.

The result was that the third wicket did not fall until the 19th over when the score was 85. If that early catch of Brown's had stuck, England might have been 30 for 3 with Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe engaged in a careful rebuilding operation.

Obviously the first 15 overs presents batsmen with excellent opportunities. But it is no good adopting the relatively reckless approach of the Sri Lankans in the World Cup. It will bring embarrassment too often.

Even so, it needed the hitting of Mark Ealham and Chris Lewis to take England to a formidable total. Maybe one pinch-hitter can be justified in England but surely not more.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in