‘It just makes sense’: Australia employs clever over rate strategy in T20 World Cup opener

The Australian cricket team has developed a clever strategy to help avoid copping an over rate penalty during the T20 World Cup.

The Australian cricket team has developed a clever strategy to help avoid copping a slow over rate fielding restriction penalty during the T20 World Cup.

Earlier this year, the International Cricket Council introduced a new rule for T20 internationals that was designed to prevent slow over rates and speed up the game.

Bowling teams will be docked one fielder from outside the 30-yard circle during each over that starts after the 85th minute of the innings. For example, only four fielders will be permitted outside the inner ring for the final 12 deliveries if the penultimate over commences more than 85 minutes after the innings commences.

Catch the T20 World Cup Live on Kayo. Don’t Risk Missing All Your Teams’ Matches. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

To help quickly get through their opening six overs in the field, the Australians placed substitute players and coaching staff around the boundary rope to swiftly retrieve the ball during the recent bilateral T20 series against England.

The strategy may only save a handful of seconds, but cricket is a game of small margins.

“In the Powerplay, obviously the ball flies around and you lose time when players have to go and fetch the ball, which is part of cricket,” Australian spinner Ashton Agar told cricket.com.au earlier this week.

“The time thing is a really difficult one to manage, so I guess stationing the guys who are on the bench around the ground, does it save you 10 seconds here or there? Potentially. That all adds up at the end of the day.

“It’s not really giving you an advantage. It just makes sense. I think it’s common sense in the Powerplay to do that, because you don’t have guys out there fielding on the fence.”

When being late can cost you an extra fielder in the death over, it's a very good idea to use your bench players to patrol the fence and retrieve boundaries. https://t.co/J7xcuyib8S

— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) October 19, 2022

Superb stuff https://t.co/39IxbzXf37

— Srinath (@srinathb) October 19, 2022

During Saturday evening’s T20 World Cup contest against New Zealand at the SCG, reserve paceman Kane Richardson and a trio of support staff were seated around the boundary, waiting for the ball to come their way.

Australia is not the first cricket team to employ the unusual tactic, with England spotted attempting a similar ploy during a Test match against India in Rajkot in November 2016.

Australia’s cricketers were fined 40 per cent of their match fee and lost four World Test Championship points for a slow over rate during the 2020 Boxing Day Test against India at the MCG, which ultimately resulted in them missing last year’s World Test Championship Final.