Cover Story: The death of the draw

With attack being the primary trait that attracts captains and the word ‘intent’ doing endless rounds, most cricketing nations have seemingly forgotten the glue that binds Tests: patience.

Stunner: England’s Jonathan Bairstow pulls off a spectacular one-handed catch to dismiss K. L. Rahul off the bowling of Craig Overton in the second innings of the third Test in Leeds.

Ever since shepherds used a clump of wood to strike a spherical object in ancient Britain, cricket’s essence was essentially to kill time. Hustling those seconds, swallowing those minutes and keeping boredom at bay seemed to be the willow game’s primary objective, at least in its nascent stage before the sheep were nudged back from the pastures under darkening skies.

The sport later acquired a structure, the two innings per team concept and it could even go on for eternity like those timeless Tests of yore. Later the five-day cap was imposed and Tests had a finishline. It had its unique rhythms enacted on freshly cut grass and a brown turf with statutory breaks for lunch and tea. It was pastoral and made its peace with the scorching sun and impish rain.

READ: England seals innings victory over India after Ollie Robinson's five-for

Readers of a certain vintage would even remember the rest day when the Test took a mid-contest break and the players stretched their sore limbs. The rest day is long gone and what we have are Tests extended across five consecutive days, that is when they last the distance. We live in an age of wireless connectivity, rush-hour traffic, Twitter -brevity and WhatsApp wishes, and cricket too has its kinetic avatars — One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20s, either lasting a day or flickering as a frenzied evening indulgence.

But Tests have their innate charms and most blue-chip cricketers are convinced that it is the long-form that burnishes their legacy, while the shorter versions bolster their bank balance. And Tests have one defining aspect which ODIs and T20s never have: the result that rests on a stalemate, referred to as the draw, and at times one that is also mentioned as the ‘dull draw’ with its alliterative fatigue.

Yet, the draw exists besides the twin impostors of triumph and defeat. And it is the draw that is becoming increasingly rare unless the weather intervenes or rival teams wrestle it out for five days without getting a vice-like grip. The death of the draw with accompanying numbers across decades has been culled by ace statistician Mohandas Menon and can be referred to in the subsequent pages. It is a cold pointer to how Tests and squads are seemingly turning their back on the honourable ‘we-finished-equal’ template or perhaps they can only either win or wilt in defeat.

 

With the definitive result preferred over draws, and with limited-overs cricket luring both fans and commerce, a drawn Test may seem to be an anachronism. Besides the context of results and finances, what glaringly surfaces is the dwindling art of batting to save a Test. With playing XIs increasingly banking on stroke-players, who could, on their day, dictate terms and decide the fate of a contest, the old-fashioned batsman, who could bat for time, finds limited purchase within the algorithm of team selection.

In the past, squads used to have one or two batsmen, who could down the shutters and tire bowlers. When talk veers to the West Indies of the past, Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge are remembered for their fiery batting. But those same Caribbean outfits also had Larry Gomes, who, through his dour approach, could hold one end up. Even Desmond Haynes could drop anchor if the situation demanded patience over aggression.

Every unit, including India, had its sheet-anchor before the cumulative effects of limited-overs cricket rubbed onto traditional Tests. The fielding became even more athletic, fitness moved towards the gold standard, bowlers learnt new tricks and batsmen had no qualms in upper-cutting a six over slips. The game’s pace quickened and it was but inevitable that the fifth-day’s post-tea slow-burn climax — be it a result or a draw — became few and far between.

Matches were often concluding on the fourth and at times on the third day and the International Cricket Council, facing a backlash from television rights’ holders, even mulled about ending Tests in four days before that thought was discarded. Various factors influenced the truncated fate of Tests at large. To begin with, largely gone were those openers, who believed in seeing the shine off the ball before the middle-order stars took over. Most openers these days believe in hastening the run-rate even in Tests and it comes with its risk-quotient.

In the 1980s, there was an array of all-rounders featuring Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. They offered depth and options to teams and once those blue-chip all-rounders retreated, Jacques Kallis earlier and Ben Stokes now being the exceptions, the wicket-keeper, who can bat, became the preferred all-rounder gambit. Based on that, teams either stretched their batting or beefed up their bowling and balance got skewed. And with cricket being played through the year, cricketers were more prone to injuries and burnouts and depression, too, has taken a toll. Playing XIs remained in a state of flux and all that influenced the way a unit approached a game and the expectations it had about the expected climax.

All over: Jimmy Anderson is bowled by Mohammed Siraj and India has pulled off an unbelievable victory, cleaning up England’s second innings in quick time on the final day of the second Test at Lord’s.

 

During India’s latest tour of England, a difficult country for visiting sub-continental rivals as the weather remains whimsical and seam and swing tend to test the best, both teams have revealed this frailty, the inability to bat time and perhaps guide a Test to a somnolent but honourable draw. The first Test in Nottingham’s Trent Bridge may have moved into India’s pocket but for the rains that affected the contest. But in the second at Lord’s and third at Headingley (Leeds), the diminishing art of batting in the fourth innings or even the third innings of a match, surfaced with all its warts and home-truths.

India won at Lord’s with England unable to even last 60 overs on the final day. England returned the favour at Headingley with the match winding up on the fourth day with India losing by an innings and 76 runs. This isn’t just a plague affecting India and England as, within the limited cricketing globe, the other practitioners are also increasingly folding up fast with perhaps a day to spare.

With attack being the primary trait that attracts captains and the word ‘intent’ doing endless rounds, most cricketing nations have seemingly forgotten the glue that binds Tests: patience. To name a few, India had Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid in the past, and it is not that as if they couldn’t accelerate or play their shots, but often in the altar of team-sport, they offered both safe runs and stability. They had stroke-players around them and even those could play both the waiting-game and slam-the-bowler around. Sachin Tendulkar could do that and even the current Indian coach Ravi Shastri, during his playing days, has done both the dour stint as well as slamming six sixes in an over in domestic cricket.

As for playing the waiting game within the current team, Virat Kohli has Cheteshwar Pujara and perhaps Ajinkya Rahane while Rohit Sharma has also revealed a patient side to him. But what queers the pitch is that both Pujara and Rahane have been pigeonholed as Test specialists and with their enforced absence from the shorter versions, the pressure upon them when they play Tests, quadruples. For Kohli or a Rohit, they can exhale a bit in the blue shade but no such luxury awaits Pujara and Rahane.

It does affect a cricketer and with batting strike-rates being discussed, it isn’t easy to practise abstinence outside the off-stump, the kind Tendulkar did once during a famous double hundred in Sydney. Batting is essentially about lining up the delivery and deciding whether to play or leave but when a voice in the head keeps whispering ‘intent’, a wrong decision could emanate leading to a dismissal.

Yes, bowlers have smartened and legends like James Anderson are still around but there is no discounting the fact that batting in the fourth or even third innings of a match, has dipped. Kohli has often stated about going for a win even if it means a loss is a possibility. This ‘all or nothing’ approach factors in only spectacular triumphs and gut-wrenching losses and between the two stools, the humble draw has fallen flat.

The will to defend, to exhibit restraint and the desire to return undefeated, are also key attributes in a batsman’s repertoire. Cricket, at least Tests, has space for both the cavalier tendency and calming approach. The twain has to meet else a hard-fought draw could become a thing of the past.