"Lob-up" games

I see that Kent vs Glamorgan turned into a "lob up" match, where both sides declared on 60-something to try to force a result.

I know I am a lot younger than a lot of the members of this forum and thus not old enough to remember 3-day first class cricket where these contrived deals were more common, but having been on the fence for a couple of years I'm certain enough that I don't like them. This is slightly different to declaration bowling, where you try to force the batting side to declare by bringing on pie-chuckers. This, if done unilaterally, can be considered a legitimate tactic and you see it more often in "timed" games at club level, but games where you try to contrive a finish out of nothing, especially in a league structure, I think, are morally wrong.

Nasser Hussain said on the Sky coverage this week that he played a lob up game where Viv Richards was in the opposition, and Hussain bowled to Richards, who hit it straight back to him caught and bowled, and said "I don't do lob ups". I think that's a very sporting attitude for Richards to take, and it's a shame others don't follow suit.

It's also open to corruption: Cronje-gate in South Africa vs England in 2000 is example enough of that, and some of the England players have talked about winning it in that manner not feeling like a true Test Match win.

RB

Assuming that a draw was not a sufficient target for one of the teams, why on earth would you not try and produce a result on the fourth day in that situation? Would you really have a first innings continue to 110 overs and then shake hands? If the declarations genuinely give both sides something to go for, why not?

Pie chuckers to shame the opposition are pretty rare in first class cricket, I think. More often they go hand-in-hand with contrived deals, as the deal is that the side making the declaration has to be gifted runs quickly in order to be able to set a target that both have agreed.

"Lob-up" games ?

I never heard the expression before until Nasser installed it as his latest catch phrase last week.Perhaps Middlesex v Yorkshire could be the worst modern example ?Yorkshire seemed to agree that if they couldn't win they would just throw it away.What a farce.

Badges wrote: "Lob-up" games ?

I never heard the expression before until Nasser installed it as his latest catch phrase last week.Perhaps Middlesex v Yorkshire could be the worst modern example ?Yorkshire seemed to agree that if they couldn't win they would just throw it away.What a farce.

Yes, that did appear to be part of the deal and that did not sit very well. It was as if both counties were determined that Somerset's "sporting" pitches should not bring them the title. Ironically, if the Somerset game had not been finished off early and the result had been still in doubt the discussions between captains would have had an entirely different flavour, as draws all round would have suited Middlesex.

I'm not particularly keen on "lob ups" (that was a new term for me too) or declaration bowling. I guess it's a by product of playing for points in a league format, which is why you would very rarely see it in test matches.
I'm not sure how to get around it. I would imagine that increasing number of points for a draw would encourage teams to sit in for draws, so that wouldn't be a viable alternative.
I must admit, I've watched County Championship matches for around ten years and I've only seen it a handful of times. Thank goodness for that.

The points for a draw were increased this season from five to eight. This should theoretically "help take the lob-up out of the equation" as Nassar would say.