Architect of pinch hitting looks back

Dubai: New Zealand cricket team selector Mark Greatbatch is cricket's first pinch hitter. He introduced it during the 1992 World Cup and transformed the art of batting in One-day cricket.

Many nations later followed his style and today almost all batsmen in Twenty20 follow his style that he discovered and introduced as an opening batsman to give a whirlwind start.

"In One-day cricket, due to the limited number of overs, there was a need to come up with ways to score runs quickly. I started pinch hitting in 1992 exploiting the fielding restrictions. Sri Lankans took it over and went on to win the World Cup. Later even (Sachin) Tendulkar and many other too attempted it at the highest level," Greatbatch said to Gulf News.

Elaborating on his discovery and on how to play this shot, he said: "I was not in very good form at that time and so I decided to go out and simply hit the ball. I attempted it when playing against South Africa and got a few in the middle. It was a time when ball was trying to dominate you and I realised that if one can dominate the bowlers then you can gain good momentum."

The basics

When asked what are the basics of pinch hitting and what is needed to be a successful pinch hitter, Greatbatch said: "Picking up the correct length of the ball is very important. Whether in Test, One-dayers or Twenty20, if you can pick the length of the ball correctly then you have a good chance of hitting it cleanly. You need to be in position for the right length and then play the shot."

Greatbatch enjoys the role of a selector. "I am one of the three selectors. We have got some good people in the committee like Glenn Turner, Daniel Vettori and John Wright as advisor. We have very good discussions about players and on what we want to try out and achieve," he said.

Greatbatch is delighted with the increasing popularity of cricket in New Zealand despite Rugby's domination. "Today nearly 110,000 people playing cricket. It is quiet big and encouraging for a small country," he said.

New Zealand has performed well ever since Greatbatch has become a selector. "It was very pleasing to win the One-day series here. Though we did not start well we adjusted to the conditions It is hard to beat Pakistan, particularly in their own backyard. The team has a good chance to develop into a very strong side," he concluded.