Which would you prefer watching?

Quote:One could hardly have experienced a more one-sided game. Australia were dismantled for 239 in 37 overs, meaning England won by all of 242 runs. It is normally unwise to make judgments after only half the game is completed, but in this case, one could reasonably have forecasted that the visitors stood no chance. In essence, the game was over as a contest once England made such a humungous score, South Africa’s Record chase of 438/9 against Australia in 2006 notwithstanding.

Big scores are the norm nowadays. In the 1999 World Cup, there were only two scores over 300. For the 2011 tournament, that number rose to 17. And the 2015 competition saw 28 totals over 300, including three that went past 400.

Now, consider the fifth and final game of the current England/Australia series played in Manchester. Batting first, Australia managed only 205/8 off 34.4 overs. In reply, England made 208/9 to win the game by a single wicket with nine balls remaining.

A measly two sixes and 17 fours were counted in England’s innings in Manchester, a far cry from the flurry of boundaries in Nottingham. The home team largely owed its victory to a masterly, relatively restrained innings by Buttler. He made 110 off 122 deliveries, the most he has ever faced in an ODI, despite reaching or going past a hundred on five previous occasions.

From very early in the Nottingham game everyone knew what the outcome would be; there was no way Australia would’ve overtaken England’s total, especially after losing wickets fairly early in their reply.

The Nottingham game, on the other hand, went down almost to the last over, and any of three results — an England win, an Australian win, or a tie — were entirely possible until the moment Buttler drove Marcus Stoinis for four to secure victory for his side. It was a thrilling end to an engaging game, a game that held the audience captive for much of its duration.

That cricket has become far friendlier to batsmen than it is to bowlers is beyond dispute. More and more, bowlers are being reduced to the role of supporting cast, there only to carry out the perfunctory task of providing balls for the game’s batting stars to exercise their hitting powers. The batsman has emerged as cricket’s fair-haired boy. The bowler is cricket’s ill-begotten stepchild.