The semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2019 are upon us, after a fairly engaging group stage. One of the advantages of having one large round-robin group stage at a cricket World Cup is that it makes it easier to compare the performances of all participating teams and players. They have all been tested against almost the same sets of players, and against the best bowlers and batsmen in the world.
For a tournament in which we were expected to witness ODI cricket’s first 500+ score—considering the conditions and some imperious batting lineups—the bowlers have done well to ensure there has not been even one 400+ score.
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To achieve this feat, there has been some phenomenal bowling at the death (overs 41 to 50). In those crunch situations, a handful have stood out—some familiar faces and some not-so obvious ones. Ahead of the tournament, Jasprit Bumrah and Kagiso Rabada were considered two of the best death bowlers in the world. While one did justice to the tag, the other was barely recognisable.
To evaluate the best death bowlers and the teams that had the best death bowling units, we added the weighted scores of wickets (out of 10), economy rate (out of 10) and bowling strike rate (out of 5) of all bowlers in the death. Hence, the composite scores of teams and players are out of 25.
This, we believe, would give a fair picture of the top performers. Only bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs in the death have been considered.
Top 10 death bowlers
Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman have been the best by quite a margin in those crucial overs. Though Rahman has the most wickets, he also bowled the most overs in the death (26) and has been a bit expensive. Starc, who has been economical and has a lower wicket per ball ratio, edges past Rahman to top the rankings.
The top ten features three from Pakistan (Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz), two from England (Mark Wood and Jofra Archer) and one each from India (Bumrah), West Indies (Carlos Brathwaite) and Afghanistan (Gulbadin Naib).
The 19-year-old Shaheen Afridi, who became the youngest ever bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup, has that final six-wicket haul against Bangladesh to thank for catapulting him up the rankings.
Most economical death bowlers
It is clear how reliant Australia have been on Starc to restrict teams in the final overs. He has given away the least number of runs and has the most balls per boundary conceded. Starc and his teammate Kane Richardson are the only two players to bowl a maiden over at the death, and both were wicket maidens.
Bumrah follows close behind Starc in the number of balls between boundaries. Lasith Malinga and Trent Boult make this list after only just missing out on the overall top ten.
How the teams fared
It may come as a surprise that Bangladesh top this table. It goes to show that despite failing to make the semis, their bowlers were ruthless at the death. The team certainly got the most opportunities to bowl in the death (445 balls) but they made it count. Picking 23 wickets at an impressive strike rate of 13.91, Bangladesh were led by the twin attack of Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin. Their bowlers were expensive, though.
South Africa got the second-most number of balls to bowl (394) and did little with it. Rabada picked up just four wickets with the 90 balls he bowled, going for over 7.2 an over. Andile Phehlukwayo grabbed five wickets and Chris Morris got four, but both of them went for over eight runs an over.
The Sri Lankan bowlers had the best strike rate of the lot nabbing 14 wickets in the 30 overs they bowled. New Zealand’s economy was the best, but their strike rate was a bit dismal.
Indian trio at their best
While Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went all guns blazing right from the start of the tournament, Mohammed Shami made a late appearance to replace the injured Bhuvneshwar and made an instant impact. Though expensive, Shami got his hat-trick against Afghanistan in the death to seal his position.
Bumrah lived up to his reputation and has been consistent. He is the only bowler in the tournament with over 10 overs in the death not to have conceded double-digit runs in even a single over. His economy and balls per boundary ratio speak volumes.
Of course, a team’s bowling strategy in the last 10 overs would vary from game to game and batsman to batsman, and hence the above figures might not tell the whole story. But with teams worrying about the net run rate, it is clear that most sides would aim to bowl their opposition out the earliest and/or restrict the score.
Going into the semis now, the death overs will be especially crucial and will test the mettle of the best. And when the going gets tough, it will be exciting to see which of these bowlers display nerves of steel to strike for their team.
