One small tweak to the playing conditions has turned one-day cricket on its head. Since July 2025, captains have been allowed to choose which of the two white balls to keep for the final 16 overs — and the result has been a reverse swing renaissance that is reshaping how ODI cricket is played, less than a year out from the next World Cup.
England captain choosing a ball (Credits: BBC Sport)
After England lost to Sri Lanka at Headingley, coach Brendon McCullum told his dressing room: “The game is slightly different now. The ball is playing a massive part.” The numbers suggest he is right.
Death Bowling Is Getting Harder To Face
The change was made to help bowlers, and it is having the desired effect. Half of full deliveries from pace bowlers in the final 10 overs have swung more than one degree since the rule change — a jump from 35% in the 18 months before.
As a result, pace bowlers’ economy rates in the final five overs have dropped from 8.40 to 7.95 runs per over, and their bowling averages have fallen from 19.2 to 18.3. Hitting out at the death is simply not as easy as it once was.
When Sam Curran bowled England to victory with four wickets at the death against India at Lord’s in July, he found more than twice as much swing with the old white ball across his final spell than at the start of the innings. A year earlier, Saqib Mahmood found less than half as much swing at the death in Cardiff against West Indies.
Fuller, Straighter, Nastier
With reverse swing back in play, pacers are bowling fuller and leaning on inswing. Sri Lanka showed how brutally effective this can be at Headingley last month, bowling 69% of deliveries six metres from the stumps or fuller to close out a 16-run win over England.
Some individuals have thrived spectacularly. West Indies quick Alzarri Joseph has seen his average swing jump by 84%, dropping his bowling average from 24.1 to 17.4. South Africa’s Lungi Ngidi has been even better — a 63.3% increase in swing has cut his bowling average to 13 and his economy from 9.34 to six.
New Zealand’s Nathan Smith, Pakistan’s Naseem Shah and Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman have all found more movement too, with varying returns.
England Are The Big Winners — So Far
Statistically, England have benefited most from the change, though they have also taken a significant step forward in ODI cricket this year regardless. Their bowling average at the death has plummeted from 36.76 to 20.91 and their economy from 9.78 to 7.53 since July 2025 — while their batting run rate has actually improved from 8.07 to 9.16.
Three days after the Headingley defeat, England showed they were thinking about the new reality: at The Oval they raced from 104-2 to 214-2 in the 10 overs before Sri Lanka picked their preferred ball.
Not everyone is coping. Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan have all scored slower in the death overs since the change — West Indies’ death run rate has collapsed by 2.39 runs per over.
With the World Cup approaching, one thing is clear: teams that master the old white ball will decide who lifts the trophy.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
