Bowling at the death in professional Twenty20 cricket requires nerves of steel, clarity of thought, calmness under intense pressure and a high degree of skill.
All those qualities are particularly required at a ground like Taunton where the pitches are fast and true, the boundaries relatively short and the outfield often lightning quick.
Such has been the development in batting power and the increased number of shots employed since T20 was first introduced that the slightest stray in line or length can result in the ball soaring over the ropes.
The margin of error for bowlers in the closing overs is minimal. Taking all that into consideration, it is an area Somerset must improve to stand any realistic chance of winning this season’s Vitality Blast.
That was confirmed by the shock South Group home defeat by bottom club Kent at Taunton last Friday night when the Spitfires scored 62 off the last four overs of their innings. It wasn’t a one-off. Sussex Sharks plundered 63 in the same period when winning at the Cooper Associates County Ground nine days earlier.
The average number of runs Somerset have conceded in the final four overs of their seven group games to date is 53 – more than 13 an over. Not only has that significantly increased the targets Tom Abell and his team have been facing. It also sends the opposition out to bowl with real momentum.
After the defeat by Kent, skipper Abell admitted: “Death bowling is a problem. I don’t expect people to be perfect and it is Twenty20 cricket where bowlers can go for runs. But we didn’t get it right tonight. We have to refine our skills and be better under pressure.”
Peter Siddle actually bowled the last over of the game for just five runs, taking two wickets. But the previous two, sent down by Josh Davey and Ben Green, saw 6 sixes struck and cost 48.
Both those bowlers have shown themselves capable of keeping things tight and are not alone in having been savaged at Taunton.
Marchant de Lange went for 22 off the last four balls of the Sussex innings and it will be interesting to see who Somerset trust with the closing overs when Gloucestershire visit the Cooper Associates County Ground tomorrow night.
Talking to the coaches, it is clear that a lot of work takes place behind the scenes on death bowling before and during the Blast. There are even yorker competitions designed to improve accuracy with a delivery that has always been a go-to when the opposition are on the attack. The problem with that ball is that if it is minimally short or slightly over-pitched, a boundary is likely to result.
For that reason, bowling coach Steve Kirby favours his charges mixing up their line and length at the end of innings to make the batsmen unsure of what is coming next.
He told me: “I believe bowlers need to go with their instincts. Whatever you do in the nets, there is no substitute for being out there in a match situation.
“If one of them thinks a slower ball is the right one to send down next or maybe a wide yorker then he needs to go with that, knowing the coaches will back him.
“The two things you can measure are clarity of thought and execution. If both are right and the opposition still hit a four or six, there is nothing more you can do.
“It’s important to be unpredictable. For that reason, I also like to see different bowlers operating in the closing overs whatever the previous six balls have gone for. At this moment in time, we are slightly off with our execution and have been a bit too predictable at Taunton.
“We know that is the case and the exciting thing is that we have been winning a lot of group matches with an area we can still improve on.”
