Bowling Ends In Cricket – Many cricket fans think that the batters will cross each other after every over is over. It means the umpire and the wicketkeeper remain in the same positions after the completion of the over, but the batters change their position.
But actually, it happens only in gully cricket. In professional cricket, the batters remain unchanged after completing an over. They only ran for scoring runs, and only at that moment batters changed their position from striker to non-striker. Is it surprising? I will explain what exactly happens between overs.
What Are Bowling Ends
Every cricket stadium has two bowling ends. If one bowler bowls an over from one end, the other bowler bowls his over from the other. Let me take an example and explain clearly about these bowling ends for you to understand better.
The above picture shows a cricket ground and pitch consisting of two sets of stumps. Imagine the batter playing at one end of the pitch and the bowler bowling from the opposite. Now there is a sight screen and a big building behind the boundary line opposite the batter. Also, you can observe the same kind of thing behind the batter and wicketkeeper. So these two building blocks in front and behind the batter represent bowling ends in cricket. In this way, each stadium has two bowling ends.
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Names Of Bowling Ends
In cricket, the bowling ends are generally called pavilion and media ends. The pavilion end contains dressing rooms for both the teams playing the match and rooms related to team management. The Media end contains match coverage space for both commentators and media officials.
But some stadiums name their bowling ends differently. Mostly, the bowling ends are named after players who have excelled for their country. Examples are Sachin Tendulkar’s End, Brian Lara’s End, Ricky Ponting’s End, and other names of legendary cricketers. For example, let’s take the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The names of the bowling ends are “Adani End” and “Reliance End.” So in this way, every international stadium has two bowling ends. But the names are different for each stadium.
How To Use Bowling Ends In Cricket
Bowling ends to change the batter’s strike after every over without changing the batter’s actual position. For example, in a match between India and England, Ben Stokes is at the striker end, Joe Root is at the non-striker end, and Bumrah is the bowler. Suppose the last ball of the over is a dot ball. Then Joe Root will be the striker of the next over. But he will not move from his place. Instead, the Indian wicketkeeper will go to do wicketkeeping to Joe Root, and the following bowler will bowl from that end where the keeper was doing wicketkeeping when Bumrah was the bowler.
So one over bowled from one bowling end and the other over being bowled from the other. It means fielding team members, and umpires change their positions after the completion of every over, but not batters. Hence the batters do not change their position after the end of the over. That is why there are sight screens on both sides of the pitch. Also, after the end of the over, the wicketkeeper and the umpire will change their position according to the bowling end. So in this way, the bowling ends are changed for every over throughout the match.
What Are The Reasons To Use Bowling Ends
There are many reasons for using the two bowling ends in cricket. Here I mentioned a few of them.
1. Ground Dimensions
The boundary sizes are different on some grounds. One side is short, and the other side is long. In this case, only one kind of batsman gets a massive advantage if bowling ends are not used. If the left-side boundary is small, the right-hand batsman will hit sixes easily on the leg side. But a left-handed batsman needs more power to hit his leg-side sixes. Also, there is a risk of getting out as the boundary line is far away. If the right-side boundary is small, the left-handed batsman gets the advantage. So using these bowling ends in cricket gives an equal advantage to both-handed batters as the boundary sides change for every over.
2. Pitch Conditions
Another reason is that the pitch gets damaged if you bowl from one side of the pitch. Also, the area where the bowlers used for runup is also damaged if they play the whole match on one side of the ground. Also, continuously batting on one side might degrade the pitch from that end; one side might spin or bounce more than the other.
3. Weather Conditions
The wind is a crucial factor while playing cricket. It may help either the batter or the bowler. So split down this advantage for both batters and bowlers, the bowling ends in cricket are used.
4. Viewing Experience
Changing bowling ends after every over helps improve the crowd’s viewing angles since both ends confront the on-strike batsman every alternate over.
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So those who watch cricket from the stadium will have some basic knowledge of these bowling ends in cricket. Still, those who watch on television or mobile find it hard to believe this bitter fact. However, if you observe closely, you can find it while watching television or mobile.