(CRICBUZZ)If you are an international batsman then one examination you are bound to sit at some point is the test of how you negotiate the short ball. You may avoid it for a while but rest assured it will come, as opponents probe for weaknesses to exploit. You may respond by swaying, or ducking, or defending, all of which can be difficult to the well-pitched short delivery. Or, if you are willing to take the risk, you may respond by hooking. The hook shot is probably the most thrilling in cricket. There is nothing like witnessing the express bowler bounding in, leaping, thundering down the leather in the middle of the pitch for it to bounce and hone in on the batsman's chest or throat or grill, and then to see him rise on his backfoot to hook to the fence or in the stands.
Think of an unhelmeted Alvin Kallicharran relentlessly and electrifyingly hooking the great Dennis Lillee during the 1975 World Cup. Those who haven't seen it should look it up on youtube. If footage of the Roy Fredericks' assault on Lillee and Jeff Thomson on the world's fastest surface at Perth in December 1975 could be found, it would be worth its weight in gold; as would that of a bloodied Mohinder Amarnath playing hook shot after hook shot against Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, and Joel Garner in Barbados in 1983.
Rod Marsh knew Ricky Ponting was special when he saw the teenager hooking and pulling balls coming at him from a bowling machine set at 100 mph. While the other students at the academy were wearing those same deliveries on their bodies, the young Tasmanian was hitting them wherever his grizzled instructor commanded, with a precision Marsh had not experienced with any other recruit. Ponting went on to captivate cricket watchers the world over with otherworldly execution of the stroke. Bowlers came to realize that bowling short to the Australian was most often a futile exercise; that bouncing him was just a way of gifting him cheap runs.
Yet he did get out to the shot occasionally. One reason for the exhilaration the hook generates is the concomitant danger inherent in playing it. It is often a difficult shot to keep down, and factors such as inconsistent bounce and pace off the wicket serves to compound the risk even more. Batsmen who deal in the cross-batted shot are well aware of the dangers involved, especially when there is an orchestrated short-pitched ploy by the opposition with the attendant field placings. If you wish to live by the sword, then you better be prepared to die by it as well.
Which brings us to India's tactic on the last day of the Lords' Test and England's response to it. Shortly before lunch, India invested in a short-pitched attack in an attempt to disrupt the smooth sailing of Joe Root and Moeen Ali. Struck sweetly to the boundary three times in his 16th over by Root, Ishant Sharma, at the behest of his captain, began pounding the ball in the middle of the pitch in his 17th. The plan bore immediate dividends when he broke the 101-run alliance by removing Ali with the over's last delivery, right on the stroke of lunch.
Coming out of the break, England decided to make an investment of their own to combat the one made by India; they went all the way in with the hook shot. And when 20 runs came in the two overs following the resumption it seemed to be reaping rich rewards. But it is a rule of the investment business that with high rewards come high risks. Four deliveries travelled to the boundary in two overs, and just as India might have been worrying that their investment was going bust, Matt Prior hooked Sharma's fifth delivery of his 19th over down the throat of Murali Vijay stationed at deep midwicket.
His next over provided returns beyond his wildest dreams. First Ben Stokes, and then Joe Root perished, both taking on short balls, riding England's strategy to the end. Shortly afterwards another short ball accounted for Stuart Broad and then Anderson was run-out by who else? Ravindra Jadeja to end England's innings and seal a stunning and historic victory for India.
India was the better side throughout much of this Test and deserved the victory. England won the toss and asked India to bat on the greenest surface many had ever seen at Lords. Friendly seam bowling conditions were surprisingly squandered by bowlers brought up in that kind of environment and therefore should be aware of the requirements. Gary Balance and Liam Plunkett did their best to keep them alive but England almost seemed intent on throwing away a game in which the advantages were firmly in their favour.
Still, when Ali and Root were cruising along before lunch, an England victory was not out of the question. The left-hander's dismissal at the stroke of lunch, when he gloved a bouncer through to the keeper, might have prompted England to go with the misguided method of fighting fire with fire. The surface was five days old, and so its bounce and pace was always likely to be inconsistent. Liberties can always be taken with a medium-paced trundlers but Ishant Sharma is tall and can extract steep bounce and generate pace when on song. On this occasion he was, and lured England into gambling away whatever chance they had of achieving the 319 runs needed for victory.
At the last throw of the dice, India and England decided to hitch their wagons to the short ball and the hook shot respectively. India's investment yielded big dividends while England's went bust.
