History shows left-arm bowlers are key at a World Cup
May 26 (CRICKETNMORE) - Make no mistake about it: left-arm fast bowlers could prove to be a powerful weapon at this World Cup. It's a familiar sight – southpaws jagging balls back into right-hand batsmen, shackling the dominant forces in one-day cricket.
That was precisely the scene as New Zealand's Trent Boult sliced and diced India's top-order in their opening warm-up clash as they won by six wickets at The Oval.
Boult got the ball moving both ways, unleashing all of his skidding, low-slung venom at the first time of asking in England & Wales. If there's any doubting the value of the left-armer, it's been 36 years since a nation lifted the World Cup without one.
Their inexorable rise to prominence in tournament play came together to great effect at the 2015 World Cup. Boult and Australia’s Mitchell Starc ended as joint top wicket-takers with 22 each, catapulting their sides to the Melbourne final.
Left-armers topped 100 wickets for the very first time four years ago – their previous highest in a World Cup was 77.
They might have reached new heights in Australasia, but southpaws topping the tables for most wickets is far from a new phenomenon.
India’s Zaheer Khan (2011), Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka (2003), New Zealand’s Geoff Allott (1999) and Pakistan great Wasim Akram (1992) were untouchable and secured more scalps than any other bowlers.
With all that said, how could you do without one at a ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup?
It's a question worth asking, given left-armers perform poorly in the year before cricket's greatest prize comes up for grabs.
In 2014, one year before the last edition in Australia & New Zealand, left-armers took a wicket every 39 balls at an average of nearly 37.
A year later, they improved that to an average of 25.71 and a much-improved return of a wicket every 29 balls.
And in 2010, ahead of the tournament in the subcontinent the following year, their wickets cost 32.79 apiece.
In 2011, the left-arm pace bowlers took wickets at an average of 25.35 with a miserly economy rate of 4.98, compared to right-armers who went at a combined 5.17.
Left-armers might err inbetweentimes, but they are never found wanting where the World Cup is concerned.
Fans of all nations will be able to see left-arm quicksilvers of all shapes and sizes perform in this summer's showpiece.
Pakistan have named no fewer than three in their 15-man squad.
Mohammad Amir and Wahib Riaz, key to the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy triumph, join 6ft 6in, 19-year-old Shaheen Afridi, a potential breakout star.
In Mustafizur 'Fizz' Rahman, Bangladesh boast one of the modern masters of the art, bursting onto the scene by becoming the first to take 13 wickets in a three-match ODI series in 2015.
Australia's Starc is a behemoth of the breed, player of the tournament in 2015, with a phenomenal record of 145 ODI wickets at an average of 21.
On the evidence of Saturday's warm-up, the first outing for both India and New Zealand, few if any will be more effective than Boult.
With his first ball bowling round the wicket, the 29-year-old ran a beauty across Rohit Sharma, forcing him to play and miss, and then got a ball to dip in and trap the opener in front.
Boult, who has gone wicketless in just two of his last 24 ODI appearances, consistently swung the ball away from the left-hander too, finding Shikhar Dhawan's inside edge to dismiss him.
And the Black Caps star stopped KL Rahul in his tracks, too, dropping short and catching the splice of the bat to take three wickets for ten runs as India were reduced to 24-3.
New Zealand have reached five of the last seven World Cup semi-finals and Boult is their trump card with the ball.
Whichever of the ten teams you're supporting this summer, watching the finest left-armers in full flight again is one of the many joys of the modern game.
ICC