How to bat and bowl at every T20 World Cup venues in Australia

Posted by Xchange Tickets on October 13th, 2022

We examine the data and World Cup strategy with David Hussey's assistance.

Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia has never hosted a men's T20 World Cup, and throughout the past couple of seasons, T20 International matches have only been played in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra. So how might the event, which will be held in seven different locations, proceed?

We attempt to construct a picture of the features of each venue and how it can affect strategies using a combination of dat from all T20 matches from October 1, 2020, to October 1, 2022 and expert insight from David Hussey, who has coached Melbourne Stars in the BBL for five seasons.

Global trends

A quick comparison of T20 in Australia to the rest of the world comes first. The statistics for the format in Australia are in the middle of the pack across a variety of parameters, indicating that the games played there are not at either extreme of the global spectrum. Nevertheless, a few things jump out.

Australia's grounds are frequently criticized, although there may be some truth to it given that it has the second-lowest boundary percentage in T20 (although these days it depends on how far in the rope one is). The only country with a lower percentage of runs that are fours and sixes is South Africa (51.7%). Australia is once again second-lowest in the world for sixes alone, with maximums making up 20.6% of runs, trailing only South Africa (19.6%).

This is related to the fact that more threes are scored. Australia has by far the lowest rate, with batters scoring a three out of every 127.7 deliveries. England comes in second place with 235.4 deliveries. Australia also has the lowest per-balls rate for twos at 11.4, ahead of New Zealand's 13.1. Therefore, it seems that batters should put on their running shoes.

The use of wristspin, which is an essential component in T20 cricket, is another item that stands out. Despite Nathan Lyon's exceptional performance as a fingerspinner in Australian Tests, he appears to be an aberration. Wristspin makes up 57.6% of all T20 spin overs in Australia. It is 20.9% of total overs bowled, which is just little less than Sri Lanka, who leads the field with 21% of wristspin overs.

The last point worth mentioning is that in Australia, the odds favour teams who bat first. With a win percentage of 42.6%, the nation has placed second-lowest among chasing teams since October 2020, trailing only the West Indies.

Ground by ground

Melbourne Cricket Ground

World Cup fixtures: India vs Pakistan | England vs Group B runner-up | Afghanistan vs New Zealand | Afghanistan vs Group B runner-up | Australia vs England | India vs Group B winner | Final

The MCG, which hosted a number of important matches this season, including the championship game, had the highest run rate (8.30), no doubt aided by the presence of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in the lineup for the Melbourne Stars, but the lowest run-to-battlefield percentage (49.5%). Additionally, it bowls the most overs with spin.

Hussey's take: "Generally the pitch at the MCG is a very, very favourable, batter friendly, easy-paced batting pitch. The boundary sizes are your friend dead straight [as a batter], whereas square either side of the field is, of course, quite big. Bowlers use a lot of change-ups and a lot of slower balls into the pitch, so the teams are hitting to the big square boundaries to eliminate the boundary options. However, when you're playing as a batter, you've just got to pretty much hit the gaps and run very, very hard. And when you get that full ball, take it on and hit the ball dead straight and use the shorter boundaries to your advantage.

"Spin is a huge part. Legspinners can generally drag the ball down to force a batter to hit to the bigger sides. Teams can go into the death overs by taking as many wickets as possible [through spin], so that nullifies the death overs."

Sydney Cricket Ground

World Cup fixtures: Australia vs New Zealand | Bangladesh vs South Africa | India vs Group A runner-up | New Zealand vs Group A winner | Pakistan vs South Africa | England vs Group A winner | 1st semi-final

The MCG, which is the fastest scoring ground, both wristspin (7.42 runs per over) and fingerspin (7.05) have slightly worse statistics than the Gabba.

Hussey's take: "It's a bit of a new-ball pitch. Batters have to be a little bit more circumspect up front and respect the new ball by playing good cricket shots, try to conserve wickets and cash in in the middle overs and towards the end of the innings. But it's always a good cricket pitch. The boundary sizes are a bit bigger than you might think. They're definitely bigger straight, and if you're going to take a risk hitting straight, you've got to really get it. Teams try and target one or two bowlers and try and get them out of the attack to force the opposition to bowl a part-timer, who they also target as well.

"Generally over extra cover or over midwicket, it is probably the shortest part of the boundaries. Depending on which pitch you're playing on, playing bang in the middle, the boundaries are quite large. People don't realise that when they're out there or watching on TV. You've just got to try and hit to your areas of strength and play a lot of good cricket shots along the ground to maximise runs that way."

Adelaide Oval

World Cup fixtures: Group B winner vs Group A runner-up | Bangladesh vs India | New Zealand vs Group B runner-up | Australia vs Afghanistan | South Africa vs Group A runner-up | Bangladesh vs Pakistan | 2nd semi-final

With the exception of fingerspin's economy rate (7.53), which is the highest among the metrics examined here, this field ranks in the middle of the pack for most of the metrics. However, overall, this field differs only slightly from most of the other venues.

Hussey's take: "It's a good cricket pitch. Generally, more of a batter-friendly pitch, but at the end of the innings, when you're bowling at the death, because the straight boundaries are so long, you generally bowl very, very full and target the stumps or target wide balls. As a batting group, you try and go pretty hard the whole way through and target a couple of bowlers. With spin, generally, it turns there too. And if the spinner gets on top of you, it makes the death bowling so much harder to face for the batting teams generally, a high-scoring game of cricket there. It's always a good outfield.

"Spinners always try and get batters lbw and bowled because if you go too wide, the square boundaries are so short, they generally get cut or pulled for four or six at will. You've pretty much got to bowl dead straight."

Perth Stadium

World Cup fixtures: Afghanistan vs England | Australia vs Group A winner | Pakistan vs Group B winner | Pakistan vs Group A runner-up | India vs South Africa

Perth has only hosted six T20 matches throughout the period covered by this data because of Western Australia's extremely restricted border during the pandemic. It has the highest percentage of runs in boundaries (at 57.5%) but the lowest total run rate (Geelong's from three games is lower) among the six classic grounds. The chasing team has had trouble in this small sample, suffering five losses in six games.

Hussey's take: "Same dimensions as the MCG. It's an unusual pitch because sometimes it goes through very, very quickly and it takes probably an over or two to get used to the pace and the bounce. Sometimes in the first six overs, you can get panned everywhere and then drag it back in the middle through spin and through the use of the quicks, bowling a lot of short stuff [then] the players are hitting to the longer boundaries [square]. So use the conditions and the boundaries to your advantage as the bowling team.

"If you're batting, generally use the pace to your advantage. Lots of late cuts, lots of deflections down past the wicketkeeper or fine leg for four, and if you're going to play the pull shot, try and get your hands above the ball and try to keep it on the ground and hit the gaps, because the outfield is so fast that you get a lot of value for runs for good cricket shots. It's not too dissimilar to the old WACA style of play."

Brisbane Cricket Ground

World Cup fixtures: Bangladesh vs Group B winner | Australia vs Group B runner-up | Afghanistan vs Group A winner | England vs New Zealand

The Gabba, which has the second-lowest boundary percentage behind the MCG, may be challenging for pace in T20 because spin economy (6.85) is the most different from pace economy (8.65). The data also corroborates Hussey's claim that wristspin at the ground has the lowest economy among the venues, as he makes below. It is the only World Cup venue without a single century in the previous two years, excluding Geelong.

Hussey's take: "The Gabba is probably the best batting pitch in Australia for white-ball cricket. Easy-paced. It's just a beautiful batting pitch. So if you're bowling, it's wide yorkers, lots of slower balls into the pitch, and not too dissimilar to the MCG, get the batters hitting to the biggest sides of the ground, using the boundaries as your friend. As a batter, you might miss a ball or have one or two dot balls but you can always cash in later in the over. The boundaries are pretty small straight or to one side they are pretty small, so you can really target them, but also because the pitch is so true, you can generally take a big risk with the bat and get away with it.

"Wristspin is probably the best spin to bowl up there. A bit more overspin, a bit more bounce, and the ball can actually turn up there too, which is a bit of a bonus. But there's a lot of batters, who have had lots of success up there playing spin, playing a lot of reverse sweeps and chipping the ball in the gaps, and because the pitches are true, you can actually take that risk. A spinner might bowl exceptionally well and still go for 40 off their four overs, so it's an incredibly hard place to bowl, but it's a beautiful place to bat."

Bellerive Oval, Hobart

World Cup fixtures: Scotland vs West Indies | Ireland vs Zimbabwe | Ireland vs Scotland | West Indies vs Zimbabwe | Ireland vs West Indies | Scotland vs Zimbabwe | Group A winner vs Group B runner-up | Bangladesh vs Group A runner-up | South Africa vs Group B winner

Not just because holding matches there in October runs the danger of some fairly chilly days and evenings, but you might also not want to be a wristspinner in Hobart. With an economy rate of 8.76, it boasts by far the highest wristspinners. The MCG comes in second with a rate of 7.59, more than a run higher per over. It's fascinating to notice that Hobart Hurricanes signed BBL draught pick and legspinner Shadab Khan. However, Fingerspin performs a little bit better, with an economy rate of 7.30.

Hussey's take: "Batter-friendly. Just go hard from ball one. Rarely going to get bowled out very small boundaries on both sides of the ground and generally one end is pretty small too. And if that end is with the breeze, you are on a hiding to nothing. It feels like a 30-metre boundary. If you're batting, go hard from ball one and you end up getting about 200-plus. But with the ball, whatever your plan is to that batter, you've got to execute and use the breeze to your advantage because it's such a blowy outdoor stadium. It's exceptionally hard to defend.

"If the batter can move around the crease at the end of the innings, you generally get the odd full toss and then they change their plan. So as a batter, you have to move around your crease a bit to sort of stuff up the bowler's area of expertise of execution."

Simonds Stadium, Geelong

World Cup fixtures: Namibia vs Sri Lanka | Netherlands vs UAE | Namibia vs Netherlands | Sri Lanka vs UAE | Netherlands vs Sri Lanka | Namibia vs UAE

The overall statistics for this piece do not include this ground because it has only held three matches in the past two years, but in those games, runs have only came at a rate of 7.52 per over.

Hussey's take: "It's pretty much like Hobart actually Very small, straight, Very small one side. The pitch is unusual because it's a drop-in pitch and sometimes they are batter-friendly and sometimes they're not. Generally it's on the slower side. It's an odd-shaped ground and a lot of wide yorkers are bowled there to make the batter hit to the longer side of the ground. One side of the ground is really big, so you've got to try and force the batters to hit that side. But as a batter, you've got to move around the crease and target the shorter sides as much as you possibly can. And when you get that full toss or that half-tracker, you've got to hit it into the stands because you can probably get four sixes an over off any bowler if you target them correctly."