Satire Saturday | Bowlers will change cricket fans’ narrow shaded glasses or can they
Very often, the first thing that comes to mind of a cricket fan, at any level is when would I be able to witness a batting master-class, when would I be able to see my favourite batsmen scoring. But, never in life, apart from our younger days, have we ever credited the bowlers?
That incidentally stands true till date, even in the day and age of social media. The other day, I was stumbling across random posts on Twitter but quickly realised that well what goes on Twitter stays on the social media platform. But it was not until I found a bizarre series of opinion that seemed more popular than the other (and in no way, I’m talking about politics here). It was a discussion of who were the top cricketers in world cricket across eras. Immediately, there was the name-throwing ceremony, which is quite common on Twitter where everyone hopped on and threw names in the threads.
At the top of the list, of course, were names that are so generic to world cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara, like even babies would name them. Even if you snap back to your past, you would immediately realise that being a bowler was always a torrid work and none would be ready to take up that responsibility, not even the ball’s owner. After so many changes in cricket, every major cricket fan, of course, turns out to be mere supporters of batsmen, marvelling at how much pain they can inflict on the bowlers. Cricket never really supported the bowlers, right? Hang on, I will show you more instances than you ever could think of.
Look at all the World Cup winners! The 2003 World Cup in South Africa, the first name that comes on everyone’s mind is Ricky Thomas Ponting, for his outstanding knock against India but not the spell from Glenn McGrath or Brett Lee’s speed? India’s journey throughout the tournament would be attributed to Sachin Tendulkar and only himself but it just takes the entire cake away from the bowlers, who put in their efforts with Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath all just bowing down. The credit has always been one-sided, lopsided in a crazy fashion for all sorts of batsmen - the flashy ones, the dominant ones and of course, the solid ones but is it easy to be unpopular for once?
Think about it, I’m putting that Virat Kohli would break Sachin’s records easily, with the way he has been batting, it would not take him too many more years to equal his record or even come close to it. However, on the other hand, look at the records that were set by the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne alongside Anil Kumble. No one even dares to come close to breaking their record, not even the so-called ‘bravest’ of them all humans, the unmasked Americans. Ravichandran Ashwin tried for a while and still trying but don’t get me wrong, it is close to impossible with the conditions tilted in batsmen’s favour that makes the wickets column demon-like.
PS: I’m not even going to stretch it out to the rules that have made it batsmen-friendly, no way!!! And, Mankading a big no, because that tilts the game in bowler’s favour, sorry!
Now let’s come to the real argument, an article that I found interesting that suggested that Jason Holder was better than Ben Stokes. Now think about it, it is a well-documented fight since the series between England and West Indies started. Before that, however, if you had asked people from around the world who the best all-rounder was between the two, the hand would have easily been pointed towards Ben Stokes. Even the kindergarten kids would tell you it's Stokesy, cause he is one step away from being Sir Ben Stokes. Don’t worry I suppose both of us reading this are not a kid and the reality is, Stokes is a batting all-rounder in comparison to Holder, a bowling all-rounder.
Our preconceived notions, which has doomed humanity, in reality, have the guts to unanimously declare the Englishman as the better all-rounder, even terming his captaincy as a tactical genius. Hold onto your horses’ kids, he is just a cowboy in a county where there is no crime standin’ whilst Holder is the cowboy that actually fought the damn criminals outta there.
The same Stokes, the same man who bailed England out at Headingley did the same with the ball at Newlands against South Africa. Moreso, because the entire series was on the line and had England lost that encounter, it would have all gone downhill for the Three Lions as they would have squandered another chance from a winning position. None of their Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer stepped up when Stokes did yet Broad gets the loathe for the bowling and the all-rounder only for his batting, unfair damn world!
Every time England are in a winning position with the ball, Ben Stokes is there, right there to make all the plays happen just like how midfielders in football are there to assist their forwards. Yet, like the forwards, the batsmen take away all the credits for their good show. Lionel Messi’s 91 goal season in 2012 wouldn’t have been entirely possible in the absence of Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets but yet Messi always goes in the books as having the best year in world football’s history. On a similar note, Holder has been handing out rock-solid bowling performances day in and day out, with even peppering the batsmen to take the sting out of the batsmen-ruled game yet when it comes to all-rounders and their greatness, Holder is merely restricted to a bowler and doesn’t get the required plaudits.
Let’s look at the 29-year-old’s numbers, which would give us a better clue. Oh, well and good, the English all-rounder averages 36.68 with the bat and what is that, 31.97 with the ball. On the other hand, Holder averages 32.49 with the bat and 25.54 with the ball, that right there is one of the biggest reasons that the Barbados all-rounder does not get enough credit. The number game might be too strong with Holder, bare me on that one yet hierarchically better, or so according to the popular opinions.
The Canterbury all-rounder has just six four-wicket hauls under his name, with four five-wicket hauls and none ten. On the other hand, Holder has three four-wicket hauls, seven five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket haul, all against top opposition. But bowling, who the hell cares about it or the bowlers? Are you even in your sane mind? All this said and done, this heavily lopsided game needs to change for the good and more attention should be given to the toiling bowlers, who are putting more efforts if not equal efforts in helping the team.
If there was ever a rally for ‘Holder for the President,’ I would readily sign for it and by now, you would too unless you want a ginger-haired man as a president. Whilst being on the social media platform, if there was one thing that took the eye of the users, that is the use of a hashtag and indeed #BowlersPerformanceMatters from whichever god-damn lens you are looking at.