The cricket fans across the world love the leather being tonked and the mountain of runs being scored. However, it seems that love is turning into an obsession. There are some factors and signs directing the minimum assistance for bowlers from 2019 world cup pitches. So, run galore for batsmen and nightmare for bowlers seem inevident. Below are the details of those factors and signs.
Hot Weather
The English summer this year is not as kind as it used to be in the past. Since the past few weeks, days are bright and sunny, soaking out moisture from the pitches. This dryness is resulting in no sideways movements of the ball from the pitch, neither spin assistance. The subsequent result is “hit the ball through the line” kind of pitches.
Flat Pitches & Fast Outfields
Owing to the weather, fans’ interest, and England teams’ strength, pitches are prepared to with the little assistance to bowlers. This in addition to fast outfields is ensuring a run galore almost every other game. For each innings played in the ongoing England-Pakistan bilateral series, the scoreboard read 373/3, 361/7, 358/9, 359/4, 340/7, 341/7 respectively. A definite sign of no assistance to any bowler in both sides.
ICC ODI Rules
The ICC ODI rules of two balls each innings and only four fielders outside circle till 40 overs are complimenting to the recipe of runs mountain each innings. Use of a separate ball from each side ensures that each ball is bowled for just 120 times till the start of death overs. This not-so-old ball is bound to travel faster during the death overs.
Scoreboard format Tweak
This is a sign more than a factor. In England, there is a practice of the spectators buying the scorecard of a match for around £1 or £2. Till date, grounds across the country had the format that supported a maximum of 400 runs. However, ICC took a note of it and requested a change in format to support runs as much as 500.
