A cricket pitch is 22 yards long. A bowler bowls a ball across this length at various lines and lengths against which the batter has to protect his wicket and score runs. The winner of the match is the team who scores more runs.
When bowlers bowl, they need to pitch it once on the surface before it reaches the batter’s. They do so bowling at different paces, pitching in different areas on the pitch, and also imparting swing or spin on the ball to challenge the batter. The direction of the ball is its line whereas the area where it pitched is called its length.
The bowler bowls four types of lengths – short, good, full, and yorker. A short length is one where the ball after pitching bounces and travels at or over the batter’s shoulder height. A good length is widely considered an ideal length. The ball pitches slightly above the centre of the pitch and approaches the batter with the bowler’s spin or swing imparted on it.
A full length delivery is pitched higher up, nearly four metres away from the batter. This is a tricky length as it benefits the bowlers in the initial overs but gets better for the batter as the ball becomes older. At the end comes the yorker length, which sees the ball pitching right near the batter’s toes.
The scoring rate in modern cricket has increased due to the advent of T20 cricket. At every length, batters are capable of hitting shots all around the ground. In T20 cricket, the easiest length for a batter to hit the shots is the full length. This is because the ball does not bounce higher than the batter’s knees. The batter can come on top of the ball, command it, and hit a powerful stroke off the half volley.
The full length is better known as slot length in T20 cricket. It is called ‘the slot’ as it demarcates an area wherein the batter is most comfortable in hitting effective shots. Test cricket and One Day International cricket have still retained the full length terminology, thus making the slot length exclusive to T20 cricket.
The slot length becomes the most challenging to counter in the initial overs of the match. The new ball’s shine allows it to swing, thus making the batter vulnerable to edging the ball which can lead to a caught behind or caught out dismissal in the slips. Alternatively, the ball can swing towards the stumps, risking the batter to be bowled should he or she fail to hit a defensive shot.
Dale Steyn, Lasith Malinga, and Jasprit Bumrah are few modern bowlers who have often had success against batters while bowling the slot length.
