England, Pakistan give chase game a good name

Pak’s Abdullah Shafique remained unbeaten on 160 v Sri Lanka in the first Test at Galle. Pic/AFP

There's an old saying in Test cricket, especially on the sub-continent - win the toss and bat first. If you think about bowling, think about it and still bat first! That adage may well be redundant in the modern game. In 2022, the results have been astonishingly skewed towards teams that batted second (and often fourth).

Pakistan's epic fourth innings chase (July 20) in the opening Test at Galle was almost as convincing than England running down India with 378-3 at a run-rate of 4.93 per over at Edgbaston. It was no outlier - only a month earlier, England humbled the current world champions NZ by chasing 279-5, 299-5 and 298-3 respectively, the slowest of them being at 3.5 RPO whilst the other two rocked along at almost 6. That is truly unprecedented!

That's now three consecutive Tests in Galle won by the team that lost the toss and batted second, on a strip renowned for extravagant turn when it deteriorates. It's the perception in Asia, especially Galle, that when two evenly-matched teams clash, the toss virtually decides the contest. It's often a convenient excuse used to justify poor performances by visiting teams but it's actually more true of playing Test cricket in Australia, where big chases in the fourth innings are a rarity.

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The year 2022 has been the one of the epic chase, in most cases, by the team that also lost the toss. Bangladesh kicked off 2022 with a small fourth innings chase in NZ, but since then the Indian visit to South Africa, England in the West Indies, Sri Lanka in Bangladesh and Bangladesh's journey to the Caribbean have all ended in more victories for teams batting second. This cannot be a coincidence - it is worth exploring some theories.

The speed at which England successfully chase runs must surely be the legacy of short-form cricket, both with techniques and mindset. Batsmen the world over now refuse to be tied down, so the old strategy of sitting back and waiting for a mistake needs to be shelved.

A pattern is emerging, but it's probably too soon to call it a trend. It's no longer the case that Test cricket in the sub-continent especially can be dismissed with the convenient excuse of ‘win toss, win Test.' It might lead to a re-thinking of tactics, no longer a plug 'n play default setting to bat first. Instead of defending a total in the last innings, teams may have to attack more. Simply dropping sweepers back and waiting for a mistake may be oh-so-2021.

The writer is a Brisbane-based former first-class cricketer