All-format Batters An Illusion, Cricket Needs Dedicated Specialist Squads: Cullinan

All-format batters an illusion, cricket needs dedicated specialist squads: Cullinan (Image Source: IANS)

Former South Africa: Former South Africa batter Daryll Cullinan believes modern cricket is fooling itself by expecting players to excel across all three formats, adding that the era of the true multi-format batter is effectively over and that dedicated specialist squads are urgently needed to preserve the integrity of the game.

Writing in his column, the former Proteas veteran asserted that modern scheduling, commercial demands, and T20-centric coaching methods have created a generation of batters with a ‘hybrid technique’ that crumbles when exposed to demanding Test conditions.

"Producing a batter equally accomplished across all three formats of the game is no longer achievable in cricket. Such a player represents a batting pinnacle that asks too much, and performances have suggested this for long now, yet coaches continue to believe otherwise.

“The modern batter moves from franchise cricket into international T20s, then to 50-over cricket and, almost overnight, is then expected to produce a Test game in entirely different conditions. One week he is encouraged to attack from ball one and the next he must leave patiently outside off stump, play with limitations against movement, or survive pace and bounce abroad. Cricket has gone there. Player development has not," Cullinan wrote in his column for Cricinfo on Monday.

He also pointed to India’s recent tour of the UK as a stark illustration of the problem, where players transitioned directly from the Indian Premier League (IPL) into international cricket without sufficient preparation.

"India's tour of the UK is a recent example. They arrived fresh from the IPL with no meaningful preparation resembling the conditions ahead. After two defeats to Ireland on dibbly-dobbly wickets, England exposed India's difficulties against pace and bounce in an embarrassing manner at Trent Bridge.

“So much so, the T20 world champions were reduced to merely gifted players being asked to produce a game for which they had not prepared. More concerningly, all appeared uncertain about what that game actually looks like," he added.

Critical of modern coaching philosophies, Cullinan argued that current preparation methods prioritise power-hitting over foundational technical discipline. He added that under pressure, players rely on muscle memory built through training rather than tactical team discussions.

"Under pressure, the body does not reproduce the meeting. It reproduces the training. A modern military and self-help precept says that we do not rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training. And that is what we have been seeing in cricket for too long.

"Bazball told the story in Test cricket. It did not liberate batting, but rather gave a generation of players permission to ignore its toughest demands and call it freedom. It arrived in a game whose technique and mentality were already shifting toward power-hitting.

"Adaptation was always the defining skill in scoring runs consistently. That's why Test cricket rewards intelligent limitation and honest risk assessment... No amount of positive thinking can help a batter play a seaming ball late if the technique to do so has never been built," he stated.

Addressing cricket administrators and boards hesitant to separate multi-format stars due to commercial interests, Cullinan emphasised that full format specialization is the only logical path forward for international boards.

"What the moment now requires is a clean break: specialist coaching tailored to the unique demands of each format, specialist player development pathways, and exclusive squads built around the technical, mental and environmental demands of each format, home and away.

Addressing cricket administrators and boards hesitant to separate multi-format stars due to commercial interests, Cullinan emphasised that full format specialization is the only logical path forward for international boards.

“Protect the integrity of each format, select players who are fully committed and properly prepared for its unique demands, and cricket will create a stronger commercial product, not a weaker one. The teams with the courage to act first will move decisively ahead of those still hedging. The rest will spend the next decade wondering why they didn't,” he concluded.

Article Source: IANS