Leaving the game

Dan Vettori in his post-match press conference in Adelaide spoke about talent versus application in regards to young Black Caps side. What was blatantly clear over the past few days in Adelaide was a lack of application. This has been put down to inexperience as New Zealand cricket combs the depths of their thin first-class system in search of a competitive test side.

But what was obvious in Adelaide is not exclusive to New Zealand cricket. The two test Trans-Tasman trophy showed a test match art that is very much dieing. No one seems to know how to leave the ball. In the age of Twenty20, the ability to blast balls on the up through cover takes pride of place in a batsman’s armoury. How many players value their ability to let the ball go?

Very few it seems. Time and again in Adelaide the “inexperienced” New Zealand top order waved at wide deliveries from Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee. The only player who was prepared to shoulder arms was Brendan McCullum and the results speak for themselves.

But the Kiwis were not alone. The scheduling of a Gabba test so close to Australia's return from India was not ideal for preparation but the professional nature of the game these days should suggest that the players would cope with the changes in surface. But Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson all fell playing at balls they didn’t have to.

Michael Hussey is Australia’s best leaver. Perhaps the world’s. His test match average is no fluke. 64.18 is second only all-time to Sir Donald Bradman. His game at test level is built around patience. He absorbs, on average, 130 deliveries per test innings. Brendan McCullum said of Hussey’s 69no at the close of play on day two in Adelaide that it was “the perfect innings”.

His leaving in Brisbane brought him unstuck in both innings. Respected columnists Mike Coward and Peter Roebuck spoke critically of Hussey, saying he needed to reconsider his tactics. Hussey and his team-mates would disagree. He was undone in the first innings by a superb piece of bowling from Chris Martin. Coming around the wicket to Hussey, who looked set on 35, Martin angled the ball in and shaped it away. Hussey made two outstanding leaves before Martin produced the unthinkable, bringing one back to left-hander (something his action suggests in impossible) to trap Mr Cricket not offering. In the second innings Hussey made a late call to leave and paid a heavy price despite executing correctly, if not ungainly.

The fact that his game is built around leaving balls outside his zones and sweating on those within speaks volumes about why he has the best average in the world at present. Leaving is a dying art yet the best players during their best innings will elect not to play more often than they do, particularly on the bouncier Australian surfaces.

Justin Langer, like Hussey, developed his game on the WACA and he put a premium on leaving the ball early.

It was also a feature of Matthew Hayden’s “swim between the flags” knock at the Oval in 2005, which he rates as one of his best.

Mark Taylor put a premium on leaving the ball during his career saving 129 at Edgbaston in 1997.

Ricky Ponting at his best in impenetrable, so often leaving balls emphatically early before crunching one out of the screws straight down the ground for four.

Leaving is a dying art in Test cricket. The best do it so well, and the rest don’t do it at all. Sometimes a good leave, with crisp decisive footwork, is every bit as good as feeling bat on ball. Few players recognise this these days.

The Kiwis certainly didn’t. It is little wonder they struggled.