ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Spin it to win it

Australia beat the Netherlands, by 309 runs, on Wednesday in the World Cup 2023 match.

When Australia beat the Netherlands by 309 runs on Wednesday in a World Cup match, a host of records fell during the process. The two most dramatic of them were Australian Glenn Maxwell’s 44-ball 106 and Dutch Bas de Leede’s unfortunate bowling figures of 2-115 in 10 overs — the most runs conceded in a one-day international (ODI) innings.

Leede provided some relief to two other bowlers who held that record before him, though being in the top three of this rather embarrassing list is bad enough. Australia’s Michael Lewis and Adam Zampa have identical figures of 0-113 off 10 overs in 2006 and 2023, respectively, the two worst ever before Leede came along.

Ironically, when Australia nullified the Netherlands in Delhi on Wednesday, Zampa had figures of 3-0-8-4 bowling second, having watched Leede get decimated and, perhaps, having felt a sense of empathy. The four-wicket haul took Zampa to the top of the bowlers’ list of most wickets in this World Cup, 13 in five innings at an average of 17.76 and an economy rate (ER) of just under six. Second to him in the list is another spinner, New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, with 12 wickets at an average of under 17 and economy rate of 4.25.

That two spinners should lead the charts in an ODI World Cup may initially seem surprising, but not so much considering the matches are being played in India in humid October. Santner’s career figures, 103 wickets in 99 matches, do not make him an obvious favourite to lead any list but with figures of 1-37, 3-39, 1-31, 5-59 and 2-37, he is not doing too badly so far. His contribution is one of the main reasons New Zealand find themselves in third position (with equal points as South Africa) on the points table (as of Thursday).

Zampa has had a more successful career in ODIs (compared to Santner) with 155 wickets from 90 matches, but this World Cup is turning out to be extra special for him. He has had four-wicket hauls in his last three matches — 4-47 against Sri Lanka, 4-53 versus Pakistan besides the 4-8 against the Netherlands. This spell of good spells has sparked a resurgence for Australia, with three wins in their last three games following two defeats in their first two matches.

Zampa may have learnt a thing or two from Australia’s first match of the tournament, against India on October 8 in Chennai. While Zampa’s figures of 0-53 off eight overs would have hardly motivated him to pop open a bottle of bubbly, it was a match that had impressive performances from the Indian spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin (10-1-34-1), Kuldeep Yadav (10-0-42-2) and Ravindra Jadeja (10-2-28-3) bowled Australia out for 199. This included nearly 17 overs worth of dot balls with six wickets for 104 runs by the three spinners.

The other person who Zampa could have sought inspiration from was Bishan Singh Bedi, the former left-arm spinner and India captain, who passed away on Monday at age 77. The poetic spinner, whose fluid action, floating flighted deliveries and controlled mastery made him India’s leading wicket-taker at the time he retired, bottled batters down with his subtle variations.

Bedi still has the fourth-most economical figures in the ODIs (12-8-6-1) — though two of the bowlers ahead of him on the list have better ERs from five-over spells while the other bowled 10 overs. Bedi’s impressive figures came in a World Cup match against East Africa in 1975, giving him the most economical figures for any bowler in a World Cup match.

Bedi bowled in an era when the limited overs game was considered to be more favourable to fast and seam bowlers.

If Bedi bowled in an era when the limited overs game was considered to be more favourable to fast and seam bowlers, an orthodox left-armer like Santner is shining at a time when ODIs bring more success for wrist spinners. “I guess the thing in the middle of one-dayers now is you have to try to take wickets,” Santner told Sportstar magazine last week. “Even in this competition, we have seen that if you can’t take wickets, that’s when they set up a good base to get a good score.”

“The spinners didn’t bowl the way we wanted them to in the middle overs,” Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam said after his team lost to Afghanistan by eight wickets on Monday, emphasising the role spinners play in this World Cup. “We started well in the middle overs, but we needed wickets. The pitch was helping the spinners even in the second innings. But we, especially our spinners, didn’t hit our lengths. Every over we conceded a boundary, so there was no pressure on their batsmen.”

Afghanistan’s left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad, playing his first World Cup match here, had figures of 3-49 against Pakistan while their star bowler, Rashid Khan, finished with an economical 0-41 in 10 overs — Pakistan’s spinners went wicketless. With Hardik Pandya likely to miss India’s match against England on Sunday in Lucknow, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has suggested that India play three spinners, further highlighting the impact spinners have had on this World Cup.

Yadav, second highest in wickets (8) among Indians after Jasprit Bumrah (11), has a respectable economy rate of 4.74 while Jadeja (7 wickets) is even better at just under four. While India has successfully chased in every match in the tournament (five consecutive wins so far), it’s also been because their bowlers have restricted the opposition to under 300 in every match.