Is it the ODI effect? -Editorial

Within a week, two Test teams have successfully chased scores in the region of 400 in different continents. On December 15, India won the 

Chennai Test by scoring 387 for 4 in the fourth innings with almost 45 minutes to spare. On December 21, South Africa won the Perth Test by scoring 414 for 4 in the fourth innings. 

The record for successfully chasing the highest-ever score in Test cricket goes to the West Indies who knocked up 418 for 7 against Australia at St John’s, Antigua, in May, 2003. Some 32 years have elapsed since India beat the West Indies by scoring 406 for 4 in the Trinidad Test of April, 1976. And 60 years have elapsed since Don Bradman’s team of ‘The Invincibles’ scored 404 for 3 to beat England at Leeds. 

That was in an era when the pitch was not covered for the duration of the match (with the exception of the bowler’s footholds) and its character could be affected by everything from overnight rain to dew. Which was why, writing for the Gulf News in January 2006, the late Bob Woolmer wondered how Sehwag would have fared on an uncovered pitch in the days when bowlers could rub the ball into the dust and how many runs Bradman would have scored in the modern era when the rules favour batsmen. 

However, Woolmer and India’s coach Gary Kirsten all played in an era when T20 cricket was unknown and one-day internationals (ODIs) were a diversion from what the purists considered genuine cricket. 

Apart from the better wickets today’s Tests are played on, another key factor for two of the four 400-plus scores in cricketing history being chased down in the last six to seven years could be the fact that the six ODI scores of 400-plus have been registered in the last 33 months, four of them in 2006. 

It is logical to assume that the ODI habit of batting aggressively could have spilled over into Test cricket. T20 could further accelerate the trend, especially on good batting wickets.