No, I’m not talking about the Little Master – he could never be over rated. I’m talking about that Australian captain and his mismanagement of bowlers and over rates.

Before I go onto the lamentable affair of slow over rates, let me say “well played” to India and in particular, Sachin Tendulkar. As he belted the bowlers, especially the spinners around the park, it was shades of Perth. Or was that Sydney or Melbourne? Or Chennai or Bangalore? I think it was all of them. Today was Tendulkar’s 39th Test century and his 9th against Australia.

In the Perth Test, Australia managed just 84 overs in a full day’s play. Let’s remember that “a full day’s play” is supposed to be six hours of play but these days, the optional half an hour of over time is taken as a given. Until recently, the extra half an hour seemed just right. Now, the rates have slid so that it’s not long enough. What is going on?

Firstly, what does it matter how many overs are bowled in a day? For starters, people are paying to watch and are entitled to see a certain amount of cricket. More importantly, if fielding skippers area allowed to slow the game, and hinder momentum when the batting team is dominating, they will. They most certainly will and it cannot be allowed. And I’m afraid at the moment, it is being allowed.

Today was interesting, in that Ponting exhausted his main strike bowler just before the second new ball was due. That new ball was deferred as Stuart Clark is obviously unworthy to take the new ball. Australia tried to bowl as few overs as possible, limp into day 2 and start afresh with a new ball and a revived Brett Lee. As it was, they elected to take the new ball at 6:56. We were then presented with the sight (once again) of the bowler running back to his mark so that another over could be bowled. Well it didn’t work. All it did was waste the first over of the new ball. Ponting must be going soft in the head.

Is it possible to bowl 90 overs in six hours? That is 15 overs per hour or one over every 4 minutes. Ponting might tell you that it is not but of course it bloody well is. In one day cricket, they are required to bowl 50 overs in 3.5 hours – that is 14.28 overs per hour. It’s hard to get data on the good old days, but I can reliably say that they easily bowled upwards of 100 overs per day. How did they do it?

In analysing this, we need to remember that we are talking about an event that is happening many, many times over a long period of times. That is 540 deliveries are to be bowled in six hours. All we need to do to help Ricky finish before the extra half an hour is up is to find 24 minutes (6 overs x 4 minutes). That is an improvement of just 6.15%. That’s our first step. Then we can look at finishing on time so that the fans can get home in time for dinner.

Australia today balled 8 no balls and wides. There’s the first problem. That’s quite good – 12 is more like normal. That’s two overs that need to be re-bowled so you’re two overs behind already. In the good old days of the back foot rule, no balls were rare. While I acknowledge that in days gone by, there may have been more spin at times, Ponting is most deluded if he thinks that having four quicks is a reasonable excuse for the slow over rate. Today, 23 overs were bowled by the spinners (just over 25% of the bowling). Now I admit that during those overs a lot of time was spent retrieving the ball from far away places, but really, what’s Ricky’s excuse today?

In a recent article, I referred to the length of time it takes to set fields. That is the key. The length of time some of the end of over, or mid-over consultations take is staggering. It is ridiculous. I reckon there would be 10 of these a day that go for 2 minutes. That’s 20 minutes. That is five overs. Then there are innumerable stops for 20 to 30 seconds for less complicated adjustments to the field. These all add up. You’d have to be looking at 40 minutes in total for setting fields and gas bagging. For crying out loud! We are told at length of the countless hours of scientific analysis that is done on each batsman. The bowlers know where to bowl, and the captain and even the fieldsmen know the field settings for each batsman. There is no excuse.

While the penalties are inadequate, the situation will not improve. In Perth we actually saw Ponting pay for the slow over rate. But that was more by a twist of fate – it’s not going to happen often. At a critical time on day three, Ponting chose not to bowl his best bowlers, just when he needed quick wickets, because he had allowed the cumulative over rate slip to such a deplorable margin behind, that he was in danger of being suspended for a match. Now that brought results. Fines mean nothing. The guy earns $4 million a year. Losing a few grand in match fees does not matter. A suspension does.

In one day cricket, they bowl their overs on time because if they don’t the punishment is felt where it matters – on the scoreboard. If a team has bowled only 48 overs when time is up, the have to complete the 50 overs. However, they receive only 48 overs when they bat but the score is not amended. Something similar needs to be done in Test cricket. Run penalties are an obvious solution. How about this: For every two overs behind you are, the opposing team gets to chose a batsman who is “counted out” of the next innings. Something needs to be done.

And now for some jokes.

How do you reinforce the Australian slips cordon?
Give them all baseball mitts.

How do you reinforce the Australia wicketkeeper?
Give him a butterfly net.

Boom tish.

And one parting remark. How long will Ponting mismanage his bowlers? His under-bowling of Stuart Clark is unfathomable. He bowled by far the least amount of overs today, will not be given the new ball and it is hard to understand. It can’t be good for Clark’s confidence. A three hour period went by today when Clark did not have the ball in his hand. And Brett Lee bowled nine overs straight, immediately before the new ball was due, leaving him unable to take that said new ball. Ian Chappell you are wrong about Ricky. As far as his cricketing talents go, he’s a great batsman.