Planning a T20 bowling attack: powerplay to death

A T20 bowling innings is twenty overs shared among at least five bowlers, none of whom may bowl more than four. That single rule makes the bowling side's job an allocation problem: which four overs does each bowler get, and against whom? Most captains solve it by phase. Here is the plan, and where it goes wrong.

The shape of twenty overs

The innings divides into three phases with different jobs.

• Powerplay, overs 1 to 6. Two fielders out. The new ball swings and seams. The batting side attacks, so this is where wickets come cheapest if you bowl well and where runs come cheapest if you do not.
• Middle overs, overs 7 to 15. Five fielders out. Spin, the old ball and the batting side's attempt to keep the rate ticking without losing wickets. Your job is wickets, because a set batter at the death is the most expensive thing in cricket.
• Death overs, overs 16 to 20. Everything goes. Yorkers, slower balls, wide lines. Your job is damage limitation: an economy of nine here is a good over.

Allocate by skill, then by match-up

Write down your five or six bowlers and the phase each is best at. A typical attack has a swing bowler who is at his best with the new ball and expensive later; a wicket-taking spinner who should bowl through the middle; a holding spinner who can bowl anywhere; a fast bowler with a yorker who is your death specialist; and a seaming all-rounder who fills the gaps.

The default split is then obvious. Swing bowler: three overs in the powerplay, one later. Wicket-taking spinner: four in the middle. Death bowler: one in the powerplay to use his pace with the field up, then three at the death. Holding spinner and all-rounder: whatever is left, mostly the middle.

Then adjust for the batters. If the opposition's opener cannot hit spin, open with the spinner. If their finisher is a left-hander who struggles against the ball angling across, save the left-arm seamer's last over for him. The attack is not a rota; it is a set of match-ups arranged in time.

Hold overs back

The commonest error in T20 captaincy is bowling out your best bowler because he is bowling well. A death specialist who has taken two for 12 in his first three overs is a joy to watch and a disaster to keep going, because it means over 19 will be bowled by the sixth bowler. Plan the death first: decide who bowls overs 17 to 20 before the innings starts, and protect those overs whatever happens. The same goes for the wicket-taking spinner's fourth over; it is worth more against a new batter in the fourteenth than against an opener in the seventh.

A useful discipline is to decide, at the end of each over, who bowls the next two. It stops the drift where a bowler is kept on for one more because nothing else has been arranged.

Wickets in the middle

The middle overs decide the innings more than the death does. A side that arrives at over 16 with three wickets down will score 60 from the last five; a side that has lost six will score 35. So the middle is where you attack, even at the cost of a few runs. Bowl your best spinner, set a field that invites the lofted drive and holds the catch on the boundary, and change the angle when a batter looks set. A wicket in the middle overs is worth ten runs at the death.

The death plan

The yorker is the stock delivery for a reason: it is the hardest ball to hit for six. But a bowler who bowls only yorkers gets picked, and one that misses by a foot is a full toss. So the plan is a mix. Yorkers at the base of the stumps, slower balls into the pitch when the batter is looking to hit straight, wide yorkers with a packed off-side field when he is stepping to leg, and a bouncer when he is charging. Each over should have a first ball the batter is not expecting.

The free hit makes the front line sacred. A no-ball at the death gives away a run, a ball and a free swing; it is the most expensive single mistake a bowler can make.

Fields that match the plan

A plan is only a plan if the fielders agree with it. A yorker plan wants long-on, long-off and deep mid-wicket back for the mistimed hit; a wide-line plan wants deep point, deep cover and third man on the boundary and nothing on the leg side; a bouncer wants fine leg and deep square leg deep. In the middle overs, the field for a spinner should be set for the batter's strong zone, with the boundary protected where he hits and the catchers placed where he mistimes.

In Masterstroke the field is yours to drag, and the batter's zones are shown on it: green where he scores, amber where he mistimes. Pack the ring and he hits over the top; load the rope and he milks you for ones. The bowling plan and the field are the same decision.

A sample allocation

Over	Bowler	Why
1, 3, 5	Swing bowler	New ball, field up, wickets
2, 4	Death seamer	Pace with the field up, then rested
6	All-rounder	Cheap over to close the powerplay
7, 9, 11, 13	Wicket-taking spinner	Attack set batters in the middle
8, 10, 12	Holding spinner	Dry up one end
14, 15	All-rounder, holding spinner	Bridge to the death without using the specialist
16	Swing bowler	His fourth, before the batters are fully set
17, 18, 20	Death seamer	The plan protected
19	Best remaining option	Match-up dependent

Every innings will break this, and it should. The point is to have a plan to break.