The folly of shielding the tail

[Manny_Pacquiao]

i agree, the walking wicket tailender is basically an endangered species. so exposing the tail is no longer the folly it once was. having a tailender that is capable of scoring runs takes the burden of run scoring off the batsman in a big way. but i still wouldnt be comfortable in seeing a batsman exposing a new tailender right from the beginning, especially in a situation like a 4th innings chasing a tricky target on a rapidly deteriorating pitch. there are times when shielding is absolutely necessary and a perfectly legit strategy. remember what sehwag did with the tail at galle two years ago?

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[The Outsider]

i agree, the walking wicket tailender is basically an endangered species. so exposing the tail is no longer the folly it once was. having a tailender that is capable of scoring runs takes the burden of run scoring off the batsman in a big way. but i still wouldnt be comfortable in seeing a batsman exposing a new tailender right from the beginning, especially in a situation like a 4th innings chasing a tricky target on a rapidly deteriorating pitch. there are times when shielding is absolutely necessary and a perfectly legit strategy. remember what sehwag did with the tail at galle two years ago?

Yeah, there are rare situations in which shielding the tail is important and the correct strategy. For example, if you have to hang on for a draw in the fourth innings, where runs are not important is another situation where the better batsman has to take most of the strike. But in general, whenever runs are important and the pitch isn't a minefield - another endangered species - it does not make much sense. Essentially what you are doing while shielding the tail is denying easy runs and then trying to get them in a high risk way.

[asterix]

It is not right for obvious reasons. Cant do this on SG ... I shall do the crunching a bit later as it is a bit complicated. Stay tuned. :P

Cheers, bhai..:two_thumbs_up:

[thevortex]

Outsider - i continue to agree with you. It is not a question of the percentage of runs that Laxman scores. It is about facilitating the process so that the team gets runs. How does it matter who scores them as long as results are produced -consistently?

[Clarke]

there .. check it out live. Smith has done a fantastic job of shielding Dougie and added valuable runs to the score. The concept of shielding is not universally true but can be used with remarkable effect.

[King Tendulkar]

Smith shiledling the tali superberly. Although is being aided by some donkey captaincy from anal

[The Outsider]

Hmmm....completely different match situation and even so added 29 runs in perfect batting conditions. An okay effort.

[The Outsider]

Just noticed that Kaneria and Asif added 24 against the 29 added by Smith. So much for shielding the tail! :hysterical:

[Lord]

i agree with outsider,u gotto give the strike to the tailender,if u hv confidence in him n conditions r easy.it not only frustrates the bowlers but also gives the confidence to the tailender for future matches which net practice can never give.main batsmen arent gonna be around all the time.sometimes tail is all by themselves.then the confidence comes in handy Manchester,2005 would never have happened if Waugh used to shield the tail

[Ram]

A slightly delayed BUMP, but a timely one. Azhar Ali added valuable runs with Mohammed Asif doing what every batsmen* should do with a tail-ender** – Take the majority of the strike, score runs when the opposing captain brings the field in and if possible and keep the tail-ender away from the tail-ender as much as possible. One of the first times that the Azhar Ali reposed faith Asif and gave him the strike in the early part of the over, what then happened? Asif tried to hit out and held out at mid-off. *- Top/middle order batsmen who has at least an element of a power-game in his armory ** - Rookie tailender who is not only not good enough to score by himself, but is also incapable of surviving.

[The Outsider]

A slightly delayed BUMP, but a timely one. Azhar Ali added valuable runs with Mohammed Asif doing what every batsmen* should do with a tail-ender** – Take the majority of the strike, score runs when the opposing captain brings the field in and if possible and keep the tail-ender away from the tail-ender as much as possible. One of the first times that the Azhar Ali reposed faith Asif and gave him the strike in the early part of the over, what then happened? Asif tried to hit out and held out at mid-off. *- Top/middle order batsmen who has at least an element of a power-game in his armory ** - Rookie tailender who is not only not good enough to score by himself, but is also incapable of surviving.

I did not watch the game, but here is what I got from cricinfo commentary : 91st over - Asif faces 4 deliveries to complete the over 92nd over - Azhar faces entire over and does not take single off last ball 93rd over - Asif faces entire over 94th over - Azhar faces entire over and does not take single off last ball 95th over - Asif faces entire over 96th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 97th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 98th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes two runs off last ball 99th over - Asif faces entire over 100th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 101st over - Asif is dismissed after facing 25 balls as opposed to 35 balls faced by Azhar in the partnership. There were two instances in the partnership when he took a single off the last ball.

[Ram]

I did not watch the game, but here is what I got from cricinfo commentary : 91st over - Asif faces 4 deliveries to complete the over 92nd over - Azhar faces entire over and does not take single off last ball 93rd over - Asif faces entire over 94th over - Azhar faces entire over and does not take single off last ball 95th over - Asif faces entire over 96th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 97th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 98th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes two runs off last ball 99th over - Asif faces entire over 100th over - Azhar faces entire over and takes single off last ball 101st over - Asif is dismissed after facing 25 balls as opposed to 35 balls faced by Azhar in the partnership. There were two instances in the partnership when he took a single off the last ball.

The same cricinfo commentary would have also told you; 92nd over - Azhar Ali goes over the infield to get a 4 off the 4th ball. 94th overs - Same story, field comes in, Ali goes over the top off the 5th ball to score a boundary 96th over - 4 off the 4th ball, tries and misses off the 5th ball. 97th over - AGAIN, 4 off the 4th ball. 98th over - Tries to go over the top when the field comes in, but misses 100th over - Same story, boundary off the 5th and 6th ball. I did watch the match and it was obvious that Ali was doing the scoring, while Asif main job was to survive as long as he can. It was also pretty clear that Asif felt he could handle Swann, which is why Ali took a two one of Finn’s last ball of an over, even though Asif would be facing the next. It is not just about farming the strike, its also about scoring. And it is crystal clear it was Azhar’s job to score in that p’ship and that is the way it should be. Instead of that, to suggest that the top-order batsmen simply take the single on offer to him at the beginning of an over and hand the strike back to tail-ender is simply self-deafeating. The first instance Asif actually tried to play an attacking shot, he actually got out against Swan..

[Ram]

The mere fact that the specliast batsmen scored 85% percent of runs in the partnership, most of which came through attacking shots over the infield in the latter half of over when opposing captain brought the field up, is a tell tale story. Instwad, to suggest that the batsmen should play perfectly normally and simply hand over the strike to the tail ender in the intial half of the over when the oppurtunity presents itself, something that the fielding wants you to do, is ludicrous. The last two added nearly 40 runs for the last wicket. Now, there's no saying what the result would have been had Ali adopted the 'trust your tailender' approach, but the runs he last pair added could well make the difference in the match.

[Ram]

The last two added nearly 40 runs for the last wicket. Now, there's no saying what the result would have been had Ali adopted the 'trust your tailender' approach, but the runs he last pair added could well make the difference in the match.

Turns out that this p'ship DID make a HUGE difference in the end calculations. My question to Shwetabh is; England captain Andrew Strauss, in an attempt to get Azhar Ali away from the strike, spread the field far and wide in the initial part of the over. Would you have supported Azhar Ali taking the single on offer and giving Asif the strike, with 4-5 balls to spare every over and no real run-scoring taking place?

[The Outsider]

Turns out that this p'ship DID make a HUGE difference in the end calculations. My question to Shwetabh is; England captain Andrew Strauss, in an attempt to get Azhar Ali away from the strike, spread the field far and wide in the initial part of the over. Would you have supported Azhar Ali taking the single on offer and giving Asif the strike, with 4-5 balls to spare every over and no real run-scoring taking place?

Yes. And so would have Steve Waugh.

[The Outsider]

Trott refuses a single and tries to 'shield' Finn, goes for a high risk drive outside off and gets out the next ball.

[Ram]

Trott refuses a single and tries to 'shield' Finn' date=' goes for a high risk drive outside off and gets out the next ball. [/quote'] Yes, what an idiot. Why would the top-order batsmen batting on a 184 n.o, ever think it is upon him to score runs?

[Ram]

Another blow for the 'trust-your-tailender' strategy. Umer Akmal and Mohammed Asif add 50 runs for the 10th wicket partnership. A partnership that lasted nearly 8 overs out of which Asif played only 6 balls, scoring a solitary run. Maybe Umer Akmal should have just given the strike to Asif every 2nd, third ball of the over to Asif, when Strauss was spread the field far and wide and WANTED Akmal to take the single.

[King Tendulkar]

Is VVS getting it right? Seem so at the moment