Cricket: NZ bowling coach issues ODI plea

Spinners are struggling with shorter boundaries and fielding restrictions in the ODI game.

New Zealand bowling coach Dimitri Mascarenhas has issued a plea for the International Cricket Council to extend boundaries where possible and return the one-day international fielding restrictions to five fielders outside the circle for at least part of the 50 overs.

His thoughts come ahead of the fourth one-day international between New Zealand and England at Nottingham which the visitors lead 2-1. Five out of six totals in the series have exceeded 300.

Bigger bats, shorter boundaries, stable pitches, powerplay fields and a cache of Twenty20 knowledge have contributed to the trend but the upshot is that the balance between bat and ball has tipped well in favour of those swinging lengths of willow.

"I'd probably go back to having five [fielders] out," Mascarenhas said. "It [the current scenario of four out] has worked in the sense that it has made the game more exciting to watch, but spinners have been taken out of the game. They don't get to bowl their full quota, unless they're an absolute gun.

"[Having said that] I don't think the best batsmen look at the field. Bowlers can get hit for six regardless. Take Eoin Morgan against spin in the last match. We had three men back on the legside and he still hit sixes. It's a big challenge for bowlers but we want to play on flat wickets. We don't want matches where 120 plays 150; we want 300 versus 300.

"Sometimes guys have come off having been hit for 70 and looking despondent but I've said 'mate, you bowled to the plan and a few bad balls got punished'. Those balls are the only ones they need to rectify."

In this series only one New Zealand spinner has completed their allotment. Nathan McCullum bowled nine overs, taking three for 86, in the rain-reduced match at The Oval.

In fairness, Mitchell Santner is in his apprenticeship as a left-arm orthodox all-rounder. He has delivered eight, seven and five overs respectively, taking one wicket in each match.

England leg spinner Adil Rashid has bowled 10 overs in each game. He took four for 55 with 408 on the board in the opening match but got milked for 72 runs apiece in the next two.

New Zealand also have to weather a period of rebuilding on the ODI spin front after Daniel Vettori's retirement. Vettori was one of four freakish bowlers - South Africa's Shaun Pollock, Australia's Glenn McGrath and Zimbabwe's Ray Price being the others - to bowl more than 1000 balls and concede less than four runs an over (3.99) since the July 2005 increase in ODI fielding restrictions.

Mascarenhas was concerned when New Zealand arrived at his former Hampshire home ground in Southampton and found the straight boundaries hauled in about 12-15m.

"I was telling the lads 'it's going to be a big ground, the biggest we'll play on'. To see the boundaries brought in, particularly straight, was a surprise. I'd like to see them out as far as possible, even though fours and sixes make exciting cricket."

Mascarenhas said a lack of swing had also contributed to high scores, something he didn't expect to change as the series continued.

"The ball's generally only swung for a couple of overs each. Take Tim Southee. He's been hit to the legside a bit here because he's trying to swing the ball and it's not responding. He's aware of that and working hard on making the call to go into his variations."

The 50-over format will be recalibrated by the end of the month when the ICC's chief executives committee meets in Barbados at the organisation's annual conference from June 22-26.

Recommendations by the ICC's Cricket Committee are expected to be ratified and implemented within a few months.

The ODI suggestions include:

- Removing the batting powerplay
- Allowing five fielders outside the 30m circle between the 41st and 50th overs
- Removing the need for two fielders to be in catching positions in the first 10 overs.

No changes are expected on the increased size of bats, the shrinking of boundaries and the durability of the white ball.

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