School children must be missing their 3s

And, I did not when I was going to school.

I learned my arithmetic at the cricket score table as published in newspapers everyday of a Test match (excepting the rest day as the score box will not appear on the day after). Of course, I am talking about the early 1960s.

Against the line for every batsman the box will dutifully and diligently record the singles, doubles, triples and the fours and the occasional sixes. It was my compulsion, much against my father’s wishes who thought I found a nice way of hogging the newspaper, to check out whether the numbers add up, line by line. This obviously took time. It is how I got to be OK in arithmetic, focused exercise.

It is in this context the column by Greg Chappell [1] opened my eyes. I came to know from it how rare the sixes were those times, indeed earlier. One line from the piece is enough: “Bradman went through his test career only hitting six sixes.” Bradman was before my times but I do remember the glee I experienced when we heard over the radio (slipping away from school to a friend’s house that was very close) how Salim Durani hit one over the fences, straight long on or off, 15 of them in a career of 24 Tests. Of course, as a batsman he was no patch on Bradman. Yet, in sixes he reigned higher.

Coming back to my arithmetic, I always had trouble with multiplication table for 3. It is the cricket score box that set me on the right course. One can expect enough number of threes, even against a single or low double digit score of a batsman to hone the school boy’s ability to recite the multiplication table for 3. This became a habit, to my benefit, I might add.

This is what I miss in today’s cricket. Scoring three runs is as alien to batsman in the ODIs or T20s as thanksgiving dinner with no turkey on the table. As Greg Chappell says this might be due to “ever-shrinking boundaries” and/or “missile launcher” bats. Or, it might even be better fielding techniques of the players. Whatever it may be, I think this is bad for our school children.

There may be many things I do not like about the shortened versions of the game, including the cheerleaders in IPL matches, but my abiding complaint is about the circumstances conspiring to deprive the score box of 3s.

Triples are rare in baseball, but they do appear oftener than in today’s cricket. When the ball ricochets off the wall in the corners, you can expect the batsman to reach the third base. When the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the US brought in 3-pointers (shot from outside), I was delirious. I knew I will never lose my capability in reciting the multiplication table for 3! I am hoping ODI and T20s will give me back the same pleasure. Our school children too, with or without their calculators, computers, MS Excel, will benefit, I am sure.

Raghuram Ekambaram

References

1.    http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/greg-chappel/bradman-would-have-averaged-over-120-with-modern-bats/article6281590.ece

On T20 & IPL

IPL is a nice diversion for me in the evening, a few minutes of unwinding after a few hours of not-too-taxing work at the office. No wonder, then, as my eyes take in the feast of cheer leaders waving pom poms , my mind works overtime on the format of T20 and conduct of IPL.

The following are some of my brief observations:

1.    In T20, there is no need to carry the full contingent of 11 players in each inning. The team should be split into, say, 7 players, all batsmen, on the batting side (six wickets make up an inning) and 8 (bowlers and fielders), for the fielding side. Each sub-team (as in American Football) can sport specialists, which may also include all-rounders. In the sub-bullets below, I point out the rationale for such a split.

a.    There will be no also-rans hitting boundaries towards the end of an inning, as each batsman is a genuine batsman and no bowler will be called into bat.

b.    Runs will be scored by batsman playing cricketing shots (and slogging if needed) and not by bowlers hitting “Hail Mary!” shots (in American football, desperate heaves by the QB are called “Hail Mary!” passes!).

c.    The value of defending one’s wicket will go up, each wicket to be defended for 20 balls on average instead of for 12.

d.    No need to have special provisions like Power Play overs or field restrictions. Risk assessment and risk taking will be negotiated solely by the batting team, indeed by the batsman facing the bowler – some demand on intelligence.

e.    There will be no less opportunities for scoring as there will be three less fielders.

f.     More players on the team will truly earn their salary, as the number of players on the field is likely to be more than 11.

2.    In IPL, the coin toss should be done away with. The home team will choose either to bat or field first. No matter how much the experts rate and evaluate the pitch, I do not believe they have actually predicted what the batsmen face.

3.    Stipulate against meaningless statistics. In a match the day after the Gayle blitz, a projected score of 245 was flashed on the TV screen with the score reading something like 30+ in about 15 or so balls. To the eternal shame of MS Excel adherents, the final tally in the innings was between 150 and 160. Now, what kind of a projection was that? Indeed, even in the later parts of an innings, the screen shows “XXX at x runs per over”, “YYY at y runs per over” etc. The information content is zero. If such projections are indeed deemed necessary, IPL should get some cricketing professionals / statisticians to assess the situation and throw up some meaningful, realizable number, not a tasteless smorgasbord.

4.    Delete the award ceremony after each match. Photo-ops for corporates and politicians – gag me with a fork!

5.    Let IPL show some form of social responsibility and institute one-year scholarship for students in schools (excluding the fancy ones) or spruce up the labs / library etc. in the name of the MVP of each match in the host city. After all, it is the city that supports the franchise, at the gates and beyond TV revenue. Abolish all the other awards.

6.    Let the players know that they are playing for the owners of the team. If they get booed, it comes with the territory. No national sentiment can be carried on to the IPL – this comment is directed at Virat Kohli.  

7.    Get the cheer leaders out. Even in the first edition, the novelty factor did not score much and now it is decidedly dragging. Oh, those ethnic dresses on cheer leaders – so disgusting.

Raghuram Ekambaram