Date-stamped : 12 Jun94 - 14:24 Pakistan v New Zealand Test 3 24-28 Feb, 1994 Played at Lancaster Park, Christchurch ====> Day 2, 25 Feb 94 This is a full commentary of a session of Pakistani "reverse swing" bowling which I had saved on video from the recent test series. This posting gives raw data without much interpretation. My analysis is appended to the following raw data. The game is the 3rd test (the one NZ won!). The innings is NZ's first. In the first session of the day, Andrew Jones had played a swashbuckling knock of 50* - most of these off Waqar Younis - and this was his last test. The only wicket down was that of Hartland, who was caught in the gully off Waqar, quite early on. There was a bit of controversy about the shape of the ball in the pre-lunch session, and this was to prove a crucial part of the play in the session about to be described. New Zealand vs Pakistan. TEST #3. Christchurch. 2nd day's play. Lunch-tea session. Pakistan. 344. New Zealand. 1-78 off 17. At Lunch, 2nd day. New Zealand - 1st Innings Young not out 20 Hartland c Basit b Waqar 3 Jones not out 50 EXTRAS 5 Total 1 for 78 Fall: 1-12 Bowling O M R W Wasim 4 1 10 0 Waqar 8 0 46 1 Nazir 5 1 21 0 Nor' easterly wind blowing favouring the even numbered overs. Umpire Francis (Sri Lanka) was at the "even" (Wasim's) end. Umpire Dunne (NZ) was the other official. 18th over: Wasim to Young (rhb) (over/wicket) 1. Wide half volley loosener outside off. n/shot 2. Inswinging yorker on middle stump. Dug out on crease 3. ditto 4. Shorter. Half-cock defence 5. Good length. Half forw. 6. Yorker just outside off. Defends. Maiden. 1-78 19th over: Nazir to Jones (rhb) (over/wicket) 1. NO BALL. Pushed to leg 1a. Off his legs for 1 run 2. Young. Slight away swing. Off bk ft thro' gully for 4. Not really in control 3. Shorter. Off bk ft to cover with straight bat 4. NO BALL. Possible edge to keeper who took it. Not out, of course. 4a. Wide full toss. Young so surprised he missed it outside off stump. 5. Slight away swing. Bk def push to cover 6. Slower. Off face, forward, to gully. 1-85 20th over: Wasim to Jones 1. NO BALL. On leg, taken on pad 1a. Inswing. Defends 2. Round/wicket. Pushed to cover for 1 3. Young. On leg stump. Pushed down off body to bat/pad fielder. 4. 3 slips + gully + bat/pad. Angling in to body. forward. 5. Inswing. Inside edge for 2 off bk ft to sq. leg. 6. Inswinging yorker. Crease-bound, poking to cover 1-89. y26, j52, ext8 21st over: Nazir to Jones 1. Bk def, jumping 2. Good length outside off. Away swing. n/shot 3. Slight away swing. Pushed drive off fr ft thro' cover for 2. 4. Forw def 5. Shorter. Bk def. 6. Angled down leg. Well taken by Rashid. Inswing, but too wide. 1-91 22nd over: Wasim to Young (round/wicket) 1. Bk def 2. Short run up. Short on leg. Ducks 3. Over/wicket. Down leg side. Appeal for catch, but off calf 4. The other one. Angles across with away swing. Young follows it on front foot, and edges to Raza at 3rd slip. DROPPED to his right. 5. Bk ft push to cover. 126kph 6. Yorker on off stump. Played from crease. Maiden. 1-91 23rd over: Nazir to Jones 1. Off stump. Forw to cover 2. Off stump. Bk ft punch to point. 3. NO BALL. Away swing. p/miss outside off. 3a. Off stump. Forw def. 4. Wide, away swing. n/shot. 5. Angles in to him. Inswing. Punches to mid-on. 6. Slight away swing. Bk ft drive to cover. 1-92 24th over: Wasim to Young (over/wicket) 1. Short outside off. Bk ft drive for 2 to cover. 2. Away swinger. p/miss. Losing concentration. 3. Shorter on off stump. Bk def to m/off. 4. Away swing. forw def push to cover. 5. Short on leg. Tucked to l/leg for 1 6. Jones. NO BALL. Wide down leg. 6a. Forw def back to bowler 1-96. y29, j54, ext10 25th over: Nazir to Young 1. Away swing. Forw drive to cover 2. Shorter. Clipped to cover boundary for 2 off bk ft. 3. Wide off side. n/shot 4. Short. Bk ft drive to cover 5. Forw def push to cover 6. Big inswinger but on leg. Forw push square. 1 run. 1-99 26th over: Wasim to Young 1. Away swing, but short. Off bk ft to cover 2. Off side. n/shot 3. Inswinging yorker. 2 to m/wick off bk ft from middle stump. 4. Off side. n/shot 5. Opened him up. Off edge to 3rd man for 1. 6. Jones. Push to cover 1-102. y34, j54 27th over: Nazir to Young 1. Slight away swing. Bk def. Ashfaq noted on boundary with drinks 2. Forw 3. Fr ft cover drive for 2 runs + one overthrow. 4. Jones. Bk def 5. Opens face for 1 to 3rd man 6. Young. Inswing. Taken on pad. Appeal, but going down leg. 1-106 28th over: Wasim to Jones 1. Forw back to bowler 2. Half volley on off. Forw, but miscues to m/on. 3. Tucks to f/leg for 1 4. Young. Tucks to m/wick 5. Wide away swinger. n/shot 6. NO BALL. Away swing. Free hit to cover. 6a. Single to l/leg 1-109 29th over: Nazir to Young 1.Prodigious inswing. Hit on pad. Appeal. OUT given by umpire Dunne. Very poor decision, it was off down leg, doing too much. Young lbw b Nazir 38. wicket fell at 109 2. Rutherford (rhb). NO BALL. Prodigious inswing. miles down leg. 2a. Away swing. Off side. n/shot 3. Bk def 4. Prodigius inswing. Pad. 1 leg bye 5. Jones. Wide and short. Meat and drink for Jones. 4 to point off bk ft. Mid off polished ball for 30 secs. 6. Prodigious inswing. Miles down leg 2-115. j60, r0, ext14. Nazir 11/1/44/1 30th over: Change of bowling. Waqar to Rutherford The ball was given to Umpire Francis for examination. There were claims of it going out of shape. Umpire Dunne also examined it. Both umpires passed it fit for play. Wasim Akram noticeably unhappy. 1. Loosener. Short on off. Defends 2. Bit of bounce on leg stump. Off pad for 4 leg byes. 3. Short on off. Rutherford waits for it and late cuts for 4. 4. Bk def 5. Forw def. 130kph 6. Inswinging yorker. Taken on pad. 1 leg bye 2-124. j60, r4, ext19. 31st over: Nazir to Rutherford 1. Prodigious inswing. Tucks to l/leg for 2. Rutherford at this stage starts sledging the bowlers. 2. Away swing, but wide. n/shot 3. ditto 4. NO BALL. Inswing and tucked for 1 to f/leg. At this stage, the ball was passed to the umpires again. Rutherford was angry and tells them to get on with the game. Has words with Salim Malik, the Pakistan skipper. 4a. Jones. Away swing. n/shot. Rutherford speaking to umpire at bowler's end (Dunne). 5. Opens face for 1 to 3rd man. Malik and Dunne had a chat. 6. Rutherford. Away swing. N/shot DRINKS. Wasim 10 3 24 0 Waqar 9 0 50 1 Nazir 12 1 46 1 During the drinks break, Rutherford was having more words with the umpires. 32nd over: Waqar to Jones 1. Off stump. Push to cover for 1 run to Basit Ali, who threw in, conceding 4 overthrows when nobody was backing up the keeper. The ball ended up in the ditch around the ground with nobody in sight. It was returned to the middle, eventually, and dried prodigiously, with one of Rashid's gloves? Waqar then spent some time getting the shine back. 2. Rutherford. Short inswinger. On leg At this stage, Richard Hadlee commented that he hadn't seen that much movement between lunch and drinks, and was not too complimentary about Waqar`s performance to date in this inns. 3. Off side. no movement. No shot. 135kph 4. Slight away swing. Pokes to cover. Rutherford still sledging. 5. NO BALL. Inswinging yorker. 138kph! 5a. Wild shocker down leg side. Rashid does well to get it. 6. Bk def. 2-134 At this stage, Aamir Nazir limped off the field with a pulled left hamstring. so he couldn't continue bowling. Shakeel Ahmed replaced him in the field 33rd over: Wasim to jones 1. Inswing. forw def 2. Away swing. Forw, but n/shot 3. ditto. 4. Away swing. Forw def to point 5. Inswinging yorker. Digs out from crease. 6. Away swing, right across him. p/miss. Maiden. 2-134. At this stage the ball was starting to swing more. 34th over: Waqar to Rutherford 1. Inswing, good movement, Bk def 2. Inswing. French cut just past leg stump. Rutherford played across it, and without showing full face.. Bk ft. 135kph 3. Away swing. too wide. n/shot. Rutherford sledging again. Umpire Francis Rutherford to shut up and get on with the game. 4. Away swing. p/miss. Rutherford still sledging. 5. Shorter on off stump. This time there is a bit of bounce. Rutherford, on the bk ft, couldn't keep the ball down, and was caught by Inzamam at 2nd slip. Rutherford c Inzamam b Waqar 7. Wicket fell at 134. 6. Greatbatch (lhb). Inswinging yorker. Played out to square leg off the face, for 1. 3-135. 35th over: Wasim to Greatbatch 1. Wild inswinger, miles down leg side. 4 byes. 2. Good away swing. p/miss. 3. Away swing. n/shot. 129kph 4. Squares Greatbatch up, pitching on middle-and-off and straightening. Taken on pad. Appeal for lbw. OUT. Plumb, that one. Greatbatch lbw b Wasim 1. wicket fell at 139. 5. Thomson (rhb). NO BALL. Full toss, inswinger. Defends 5a. Away swing. P/miss off bk ft 6. Shorter, but still getting inswing. Bk def 4-140 36th over: Waqar to Jones 1. Good length inswinger. Tucked off pads to m/wick. 2 slips only for Jones. 133kph 2. Bk def to point 3. Bouncer. Avoids easily. 4. NO BALL. Slower one, defends off bk ft. 4a. Inswinger, tucked to f/leg for 1 off bk ft. Wasim Akram noted on the boundary eating bananas and talking to Ata-ur-Rehman. 5. Thomson. Away swing. Half cock def. to cover. 6. Inswing, miles down leg. 4-142 37th over: Wasim to Jones 1. Bk def to inswinger. 2. NO BALL. Away swing. Clips to point off bk ft. 2a. Same, but missed at point for 1 run. 3. Thomson. Away swing, poked to gully. 4. Shorter. Bk def. Bat/pad fielder comes in 5. NO BALL. Off legs off bk ft thru m/wick for 3 off a full toss. 5a. Jones. Round/wicket. Down leg side. 6. Shorter, and swinging away. Played to gully. 4-147. j68, t3, ext27. 38th over: Waqar to Thomson 1. Prodigious inswinging yorker outside leg stump. Pad. 133 kph 2. Away swinger, shorter. P/miss outside off. 3. Away swinger. Half forward, getting the edge after giving it the full face and playing close to his body. Taken by the keeper. Thomson c Rashid b Waqar 3. FOW: 147. 4. Blain (rhb). 4 slips + gully. Big booming inswinging yorker. Taken on pad. Apppeal: Not out. 5. Same ball. OUT LBW this time. On crease, pitched on off, and only half forward. Blain lbw b Waqar 0. FOW: 147. 6. Hart (lhb). Outside off. n/shot. Double wicket maiden. 6-147. Waqar 13/0/59/4. 39th over: Wasim to Jones (round/wicket) 1. ??? 2. Short run up. 1 run to cover (Pakistan are allowing Jones a single) 3. Hart. Inswing. n/shot. So much swing he was nearly bowled. 4. Inswing. Forw def 5. Short run up. Forw def to away swinger. 6. Away swinger outside off. N/shot. 6-148. Wasim 14/4/31/1 40th over: Waqar to Jones 1. 2 slips + gully. NO BALL. Leg side 1a. Clips inswinger square to leg for 2 off bk ft 2. Wide on off side. Cover drive for 2 coming back then forward. Half volley 3. Shorter. Bk ft push to extra cover for 1 4. Hart. round/wicket. 4 slips + gully. Bk def with straight bat. 5. Bk def to cover 6. ditto 6-154. j74, h0, ext28 41st over: Wasim to Jones (round/wicket) 1. Angles in. Forw def 2. Off short run. Away swinger played to cover off fr ft. 3. Inswing. Forw to deep cover for 1 4. Hart: Over/wicket. 3 slips + gully. Away swing. n/shot. 5. Half forw to cover 6. Prodigious inswing. N/shot. Almost bowled. 6-155 42nd over: Waqar to Jones (over/wicket) 1. Quick single to cover off bk ft. 2. Hart. Short. Bk def to point. 3. 4 slips + gully. Away swinger squirted to gully, playing away from body off bk ft. 4. Bouncer. Has to take it on the shoulder. 5. Strays down leg for a leg bye. 6. Jones. Shorter. Bk def. 6-157 TEA. New Zealand - 1st Innings Young lbw b Nazir 38 Hartland c Basit b Waqar 3 Jones not out 76 Rutherford c Inzamam b Waqar 7 Greatbatch lbw b Wasim 1 Thomson c Rashid b Waqar 3 Blain lbw b Waqar 0 Hart not out 0 EXTRAS 29 Total 5 for 157 Fall: 1-12, 2-109, 3-134, 4-139, 5-147, 6-147. Bowling O M R W Wasim 15 4 32 1 Waqar 15 1 66 4 Nazir 12 1 46 1 =====================> A N A L Y S I S <========================= Lunch. Pakistan 344. NZ 1-76. Tea. Pakistan 344. NZ 6-157. This is an analysis of the commentary on the 25 overs of reverse swing bowling in the recent test #3. Lunch to tea on the 2nd day. It contains mostly discussion and opinion. It tries to examine the evidence for 1. Why reverse swing was obtained on this par- ticular occasion, and 2. whether or not Pakistan cheated. THE FLOW OF THE GAME: Wasim downwind and Nazir into it, bowled for almost the entire first hour until drinks. 13 of the 14 overs were bowled in this way. Only the 30th over, when Waqar relieved Wasim downwind, was bowled by someone else. For most of the first hour the NZ batsmen consolidated the position Young and Jones had set up by lunch time. The wicket of Young went to Nazir in the 29th over, but this was really a ridiculous lbw decision by um- pire Dunne. The ball was doing far too much and would have missed leg stump by heaps. After drinks, Nazir got a hamstring strain and had to go off. This meant that Wasim and Waqar had to bowl together. They were devastating. In 5 overs they ripped the entire middle order apart, bowling unchanged until tea. The reasons for that are the subject material for this posting. HOW MUCH SWING DID THE PAKISTANI BOWLERS GET, AND WHEN: In the pre-lunch period, by common consent, "not a lot!" There was a bit of disagreement between the commentators on TVNZ as to when the swing really started. Glenn Turner and Richard Hadlee were both saying, even up till drinks, that there wasn't a great deal of swing. Jeff Crowe and Ian Smith both thought it started immedi- ately after lunch. There was no disagreement about the amount of swing after the afternoon drinks break. All claimed it was prodi- gious. Much of the disagreement can simply be explained away as different definitions of "swing." Hadlee and Turner obviously considered a small amount of swing to be insignificant. Even in that first hour after lunch, Wasim and Nazir were swinging it both ways. Wasim, in particular, was getting his full length stuff to go. He bowled inswinging yorkers and away swingers which were angled across the body. The swing was not prodigious at this stage. Nazir was able to get a small amount of away swing when he bowled straight or just outside the off stump, and was able to get prodigious inswing when he angled it into the pads from wid- ish on the crease. This latter was most noticeable in the last couple of overs before drinks. After drinks it was a different story. With Waqar and Wasim both bowling, the overs between 34 and 38 were devastating. The swing, both ways, from both men was exceptional. Even after the 38th over there was still a lot of swing, but NZ managed to re- tain their wickets until tea. In this and, particularly, the second innings, the swing was reduced as the ball became older AND as the bowlers got tired. The moral here is that, even though reverse swing with an ageing ball is possible, the bowlers still have to bowl well to be able to exploit that. It is NOT easy to continually plonk a wildly swinging cricket ball in the right place, particularly when they use swing both ways. Interestingly, on such a good wicket as this one, not a sin- gle ball deviated off the seam during the entire session. THE BALL: A crucial part of this innings was the ball itself. Even before lunch the Pakistani bowlers were unhappy about its shape. The umpires inspected it then, and on a couple of occa- sions during the afternoon session as well. On every occa- sion, they required the bowlers to get on with the job. The basic technique the team uses to apply reverse swing is to keep one side of the ball as shiny as possible, and to allow the other side to scuff up with normal wear and tear. The bowlers would apply sweat from their brow to the ball, and can often be seen working the sweat into the side of the seam with the balls of their index finger. Keeping the one side shiny, though, is ab- solutely critical. On occasions when the ball could be glimpsed in close up, towards the end of this session, there was an in- credible contrast between the two sides of the ball. Even though they were looking after this ball, they were still unhappy with its shape. They gave it to umpire Francis at the start of the 30th over, and again half way through the 31st. Um- pire Dunne saw it on at least the first occasion. The um- pires tossed it back for continuation of play. After drinks, the very first ball of the first over (the 32nd) went for 4 overthrows into the ditch. When it was returned from the outfield it was clearly wet because the team were trying to dry it with Rashid's gloves (or so it seemed). There didn't seem to be a towel available for that. They had to get the shine back of course, and were eventually able to do that, and have that spell of 4 wickets between the 34th and 38th overs. Whilst there was some swing before that, it was clearly going much further now. It seemed that there was some connection between the ball becoming waterlogged and the amount of swing obtained. This was the first time in the three tests that we had seen quite as much swing as this. With the shiny and matt sides, it could be that water had seeped through the matt surface but not the shiny surface thereby making it asymmetric (or heavier on one side if you like). A ball like this would not, surely, travel through the air truly, but would very likely wobble. This is not to say a dry ball would NOT swing, but this must give it an ad- vantage. Eventually, of course, it becomes impossible to maintain the shiny surface, and the swing phenomenon stops. RUTHERFORD'S SLEDGING: Ken Rutherford was having a running bat- tle with just about the entire Pakistani team during his brief innings. It was first noticeable during the couple of overs be- fore drinks when the umpires were called into play about the shape of the ball. Eventually it got ridiculous and was happening every ball. Unfortunately, all it did was make the bowlers bowl 5-10 kph faster. To a large extent, Rutherford contributed to his own dismissal by sharpening Waqar's form. Indirectly, he could have contributed to the demise of the entire middle order. Nobody said for sure what it was about, but the general con- sensus was that he was just berating Pakistan for complaining about the shape of the ball. The sledging happened either side of the drinks break and had nothing to do with the incident when the ball went into the ditch and became waterlogged. It coincid- ed exactly with the period when the ball shape was bein ques- tioned. THE BATTING: New Zealand lost a total of 5 wickets in the ses- sion, and 4 of these were in the final hour. Narrowing it down even further, all 4 in that hour were between the 34th and the 38th over. So the batsmen had real problems during the height of Waqar's spell - after he had warmed up, and before he had tired. Jones and, in some measure, Rutherford had some clue as to what was going on but the others were basically all at sea. In the second innings, when the reverse swing was again taking effect, it was Bryan Young who was able to bat out the worst of the overs. This strongly suggests that it is vital that at least one batsman who is well set is available to combat this period. One of the problems in this 1st innings was that Young was out (to a dubious decision) and that brought fresh batsmen to the wicket. A second problem was that Pakistan had so worked things out that Jones only faced 28 out of 72 balls bowled in the hour between drinks and tea. This imbalance in the strike may have been worth a wicket. It is not easy, even for a well-set batsman, to face late booming swing when they don't know for sure which way it's going to go. Jones, who scored very freely in the pre-lunch period, be- came almost becalmed in the afternoon. Small wonder then that those without their eye in were unable to cope even defensively. In the second innings, Thomson benefitted by coming in to bat to- wards the end of the reverse swing period. He survived, and batted well enough with Young, to win the game for NZ. Those who came in before him and "failed" nevertheless helped the cause by reducing the number of reverse swing balls Thomson had to face. DID PAKISTAN DOCTOR THE BALL, OR OTHERWISE CHEAT: There is a lot of evidence gathered from this 25 over video that suggested they did not. * Prodigious swing was obtained, especially after the drinks break. So if we can prove that cheating DIDN'T take place here, we can establish a precedent for reverse swing without cheating. * The umpires examined the ball in the 30th and 31st overs at the request of the Pakistan team on an unrelated matter. Noth- ing was found amiss, and the ball was returned to play by the um- pires. It was only two or three overs after this that the real swing started. * Even as late as the 31st over (and possibly later) Pakistan wanted to change the ball. If they were doctoring it for the pur- poses of ... * The ball that rolled into the ditch was a genuine overthrow from point. There were no fielders anywhere near the ball when it rolled into the gutter. It was returned, wet, from the outfield. * There were Pakistani substitutes situated round the boundary perimeter for the purposes of supplying the boundary fielders with drinks and food. As far as is known, none of these players came into contact with the ball. * Ken Rutherford appeared to want Pakistan to continue bowling with that particular ball. * The referee, Raman Subbarow, was involved at tea time. The balls used for the game were examined, and nothing else became of this. We were led to believe that most of the discussion was about allowing the water to remain in the ditch. Next day, the groundsman had taken preventative measures on this point, and this gives further credence to that being the major topic of conversation at the tea meeting. I would submit, therefore, that there is no evidence that Pakis- tan cheated and plenty of evidence that they did not. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz)