Champions Trophy and England have a strong bond. With this year’s edition, the tournament is now being held for the record third time in English soil.
So as the tournament starts picking up momentum, here’s five key factors every team will need to concentrate on to be able to possibly reach the final Sunday:
1. Power Hitting
English conditions, especially for ODI matches, do not anymore mean the prodigal seam movement and the necessity of seeing off the ball for a prolonged period. With a high probability of the par score in the tournament being around 300, teams may need to be mindful of scoring opportunities be it at the beginning or the middle or at the end of the innings.
Power hitting would hence be a differentiator. Teams with exceptional fire-power and flamboyance stand greater chances of making the most in the tournament.
A quick look at the statistics indicates that teams such as England, South Africa and Australia are ahead of the others in terms of strike rate (batsman and all-rounders having played a minimum of 10 ODIs). England batters are likely to score nearly 13 and 15 runs more than Indians and New Zealanders respectively in a 50-over match.
2. All-Round Ability
Teams that have done well recently in ODIs have successfully demonstrated excellent all-round abilities in their squad. Other than highly skilled specialists, the teams are packing their squads with a sizeable number of all-rounders to get the balance right.
The all-rounders would play multi-faceted roles from being finishers to being the extra bowling options for their teams.
A close analysis of the squads for this year’s Champions trophy would suggest that almost all teams have consciously taken this into account.
As seen below, teams such as South Africa, England and Australia are very well poised with their diverse all-round abilities.
3. Youth-Experience Mix
The theme of today’s cricket is, by and large, aggression and power.
One is more likely to associate that with youth and energy. In a big stage such as the ICC Champions Trophy, however, experience would play a pivotal role. The ability to build partnerships, the skill to resurrect an innings, the aptitude to manoeuvre the fielders and bowlers in accordance to the match situation – experience is necessary for success on the big stage.
In this year’s Champions Trophy, teams such as India, South Africa and Sri Lanka have a good mix of youth and senior campaigners in their squads. On the other hand, Australia and Pakistan have a relatively inexperienced pack. It would be interesting to see how experience comes into play at critical junctures of the tournament.
4. Death Bowling
As the English wickets are proving to be paradises for the batters, the bowlers may find it difficult to restrict the opponent batsmen. There might be odd matches where the ball may swing and batsmen may find it difficult to negotiate it, however, on most occasions, batters would find it easy to just hit through the line of the ball.
One must move away a bit from the traditional approach of gauging a bowler’s role in the high-scoring circumstances today. An economy rate of around six or a strike rate below 30 might very well be the difference.
Scalping key wickets at the right moments, especially in the power play overs or at the death, to prevent opponents from going berserk would be invaluable. The precise wide yorkers, the deceptive knuckle balls and the judicious use of bouncers may be extensive in the coming few days.
Bowlers such as Mitchell Starc (SR 24.7), Pat Cummins (SR 27.6), Mohammed Shami (SR 26.9), MJ McClenaghan (SR 28.1) and Morne Morkel (SR 29.7) may play critical roles for their teams.
5. Fitness and Fielding
There have not been proper yardsticks or indicators developed yet to measure or depict the importance of fielding in cricket. These aspects of the game are nevertheless gaining high weightages.
International matches at the highest level often get so close that a brilliant catch or a boundary saved may seal their fate. In a fiercely competitive tournament like the Champions Trophy, players who are both mentally and physically at their peaks and are capable of executing razor-sharp fielding performances may just be the ones to look out for.
With the best eight teams making the cut in the 8th edition of the Champions Trophy, there’s no doubt that the world is going to witness some high-octane and superior quality cricket on display in the next few days. At a time when the 50-over format is slightly in question, a hard-fought competition in an ICC event would do it a world of good.
(Debnath Roychowdhury is an alumnus of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai and works as a Management Consultant. Debnath is a cricket analyst and writer and can be reached @ImDebnathand at LinkedIn.)
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