Favouring the leg side
New Zealand's batsmen had their tactics well worked out when they came to face the Indian spinners on a fifth-day pitch
S Rajesh
23-Jun-2005
New Zealand's batsmen had their tactics well worked out when they came to face the Indian spinners on a fifth-day pitch. Play off the front foot, eschew strokes on the off side - especially shots against the spin - and sweep when in doubt.
As the table below demonstrates, three-quarters of the runs scored off the bat on the final day came on the leg side. The stats were most stark in the first session, when only six runs were scored on the off side, and 43 on the on. It wasn't as if the Indian bowlers strayed on leg stump either: out of the 540 balls bowled today, 400 pitched on or outside off, from which New Zealand managed 144 runs.
Where New Zealand scored their runs today | Runs |
Third Man | 14 |
Point | 15 |
Cover | 20 |
Long off | 3 |
Long on | 6 |
Mid-wicket | 61 |
Square Leg | 44 |
Fine Leg | 40 |
The sweep shot came in handy too: 35 of them were played in the
first two sessions, fetching 47 runs. Craig McMillan might have
been dismissed playing that stroke in the first innings, but that
didn't prevent him from favouring that stroke in the second
innings: 25 of his 83 runs came from that shot.
The New Zealand batsmen played forward almost 75% of the time -
not surprising, considering the nature of the wicket - but apart
from Lou Vincent, no-one was prepared to use their feet and come
down the pitch. Vincent did it nine times, the rest of the team
didn't step out even once.
For India, Anil Kumble showed an encouraging return to form. As
the graphic shows, 212 out of the 235 balls he bowled were on
good length or slightly short - that's an impressive 90%. For
Harbhajan, the corresponding figure was a mind-boggling 95%. That
New Zealand held on despite such accuracy says much about the
fortitude and doggedness of the batsmen.
Where Kumble bowled in NZ second innings | Balls bowled | Runs |
Full | 19 | 27 |
Good Length | 188 | 47 |
Short of Good Length | 24 | 8 |
Short | 4 | 12 |
S Rajesh is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.