The era of 1980s was when cricket started to have gradual improvisations. Be it regarding equipment, advancements in technology, broadcasting, the shift of power, and so on. The way cricket was played also started to revamp. The then shortest format, One day cricket, was much shortened to attract more audience.
Changing score patterns
In the 1980s, the average score in tests used to be 270, with the run rate being 2.86 runs per over. Compared to the most recent decade, the 2010s, it increased to 282, with runrate ascending to 3.22 runs per over. Similarly, in the shorter format, the average score used to be 219 with 4.38 being the runrate in the 1980s. The average score got increased to 262 with runrate rising to 5.24 in the 2010s.
Now that tells a story. With the arrival of more shortened formats, the pitches have become much flatter and the boundaries have become shorter too.
Courtesy : Sportzvision and Indiatvnews.com
Significant reduction in boundary sizes
Frequency of Matches
In 1980s, a total of 542 tests were played as compared to 868 in 2010s. The Odis were nothing different as 1048 of them were played in 1980s as compared to 2642 in 2010s. It implies that the frequency of matches played in the recent decade was more than that of 1980s.
Prefer Win or Draw?
This is something that has changed a lot over the time. The mindset of the modern batsmen is far from the batsmen in 1980s. The batsmen of 2010s were more result oriented as compared to the batsmen of 1980s. The data certainly corroborates the fact.
|
Decade |
Number of Tests |
Result (W/L/T) Produced |
Draws |
No Results |
|
1980s |
542 |
288 |
244 |
10 |
|
2010s |
868 |
698 |
168 |
2 |
W-Win, L-Loss, T-Tie.
While only 288 out of 542 tests in 1980s produced results in 1980s, 698 out of 868 tests produced results in 2010s. While the results percentage was 53.1 in the 1980s, it found a massive growth of 27.3 percent to have a results percentage of 80.4 in 2010s.
Amendments
The Odis were initially played for 60 overs. It then got reduced to 55 overs and further to 50 overs. The red balls were replaced with white balls and the white jerseys were replaced with the coloured ones. In the early half of 2010s, the concept of two new balls was introduced.
Courtesy: anthonycosta.com.au
The Benson and Hedges world championship of cricket in 1985 saw the usage of colour jerseys in the shorter format.
Bat Sizes
While the bats were much thinner in the 1980s, the bats of nowadays are much thicker. The strokeplay has become easier and the batsmen could time the ball much easily. This has not just enabled the prowess of the batsmen, but has also helped the shorter formats to be more runs oriented.
Courtesy : ESPNCricinfo
The comparison of bats in 1980s (left of the picture) and in 2010s (right of the picture).
Protection
In 1980s, the helmets were the newest innovations. The skull caps got evolved to helmets, which were designed to protect the entire head region of the batsmen. The helmets of today have special layers designed to protect even the face region of the batsmen.
Courtesy : bettingdog.com & skysports.com
Evolution of Helmets.
Change is the only constant and the game of cricket has certainly fortified it. The game has decisively evolved but the passion of the followers has been intact.
