What was that about a batsman's paradise? And where do you hide Chris Gayle? WORLD CUP TALKING POINTS

JAMES COYNE was at Trent Bridge and picks out some of the key issues to come out of West Indies' comprehensive victory over Pakistan...

So where does the bat v ball balance sit now?

At 1.54pm, Nicholas Pooran swivel-pulled Wahab Riaz into the Fox Road Stand for six, ending the second match of the World Cup in less than three hours’ playing time. If they were so minded, the capacity crowd could slip away for a leisurely late lunch in one of Nottingham’s characterful pubs or restaurants. Then again, given the money they had forked out for tickets, transport and food, they might not.

Clichés are not a sportswriter’s friend, and lazy stereotypes don’t go down well in these days of data-driven sport. But they do become unavoidable when Pakistan and West Indies are involved. Especially Pakistan.

At a ground where England have racked up 444 and Australia 481 over the last four years, and Nottinghamshire 417 and 433 in this season’s Royal London Cup, and at a time when Pakistan themselves have passed 340 in three consecutive ODIs, they collapsed from a position of some negotiation at 62 for 3 to be blown away for 105 in 21.4 overs.

West Indies rather hacked their way to the target in the 14th over – but then, with Pakistan attacking through necessity with the field up, they could afford to. At 35.1 overs overall, this was briefer than most T20 matches.

Pakistan looked all at sea against the short ball – which is to some degree inevitable when they play on the dustbowls of the UAE and are not allowed to go to the world’s melting pot of the IPL and face the likes of Andre Russell and Jofra Archer. But still this was utterly inept, and Sarfraz Ahmed’s regret over the lost toss suggested that he will be praying he calls correctly next time and gives his side something to chase.

^{Fakhar Zaman struggles against a short ball}

Like something beamed from the 1980s

Pakistan’s fate was arguably sealed when Marais Erasmus and Chris Gaffaney made the refreshing decision to allow the short bombardment by Andre Russell to go without censure. And why not? How many times in ODI cricket have we seen umpires overeagerly give as wide short stuff that climbs close to the shoulder, even when a batsman has ducked underneath?

You can imagine all manner of openers from the 1980s and 90s squirming on their sofas with unwelcome memories of Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson in the days of unlimited bouncers. Haris Sohail won’t have had to deal with that sort of stuff very often – and it showed, as he kept ducking it rather than taking it on, rather hoping that the problem would go away. It didn’t. And he got out fencing behind.

It was the most exhilarating moment of the day – and it just proves, even if we are supposed to adjust our expectations to the new balance of bat v ball, there’s still nothing like watching fast bowling like that.

The use of a ball at each end in ODIs is generally viewed as being in the batsman’s favour – but it does at least allow the genuine quick bowlers to keep banging in the hard ball in for longer at the start. Not that this happens very often in ODI cricket, of course. But here Trent Bridge served up a beautifully fresh pitch offering lovely carry through to wicketkeeper Shai Hope. Not many teams will want to face West Indies on a surface like this.

^{Pakistan fans outside Trent Bridge}

Where do you hide the Universe Boss?

In the field, West Indies can verge between the spectacular and the execrable.

On another day, it might have been crucial that they dropped Babar Azam – the classiest batsman in the Pakistan side, and probably his country’s classiest since Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf – on 12, at a time when he was averaging more than 100 against West Indies in the format. Shimron Hetmyer was the guilty man at backward point.

Babar’s role became all the more important when the three left-handers in the top four were all bombed out by the short ball. But he was surprisingly poor with his footwork as he flashed Oshane Thomas behind on 22, and Hope took a fine diving catch in front of Chris Gayle at first slip, clinging on when he hit the turf.

Sheldon Cottrell took a good diving catch, and even Gayle got those old legs moving. At the start, with the prospect of a 300-plus total in the offing, Jason Holder must have been wondering if it is possible to hide the Universe Boss, who – even when he’s not injured – moves about with all the gusto and agility of a peanut farmer in the Midwest.

You wonder.if the vice-captaincy will allow him to pull rank and stay at first slip until he is physically dragged out – a bit like the chubby 3rd XI veteran in club cricket. But when Imad Wasim flapped Thomas up in the air, the old stager stumbled to his right to take the looping catch.

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Gayle breaks the sixes record, but plays the percentages

Gayle’s first six of this World Cup, plinked off Hassan Ali into the Fox Road Stand, took him past AB de Villiers onto 38 sixes in World Cup history – the most by anyone. In truth, this wasn’t monstrous hitting of the kind he can unleash; more just sensible chips with the field up.

And he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his watchfulness. Somewhere lurking in there is a batsman who grew up on red-ball cricket. He has a solid defence, and the nous to realise he had to see off a good spell from Mohammad Amir, dead-batting it with that 2lb 13oz railway sleeper of a bat.

But it was a worry for West Indies when he twinged his lower back crashing a four through the offside – and he had to wave away the physio before getting out for 50 off 34 balls. West Indies won’t want the tricky decision of whether to replace him in the squad or hope he recovers.

^{Chris Gayle at the crease}

Ticketing problems

The ICC, meanwhile, will be hoping that there is no repeat of the ticket problems that affected this match. In the first neutral game of the tournament, there was a terrific atmosphere generated by the Pakistan and West Indies fans.

But there was a particularly high number who arranged to collect their tickets at the ground, rather than have them posted out to them, perhaps because of it being the first match that these supporters were attending.

It led to long queues by the box office - longer than the ICC and Notts had planned for. The ICC offered a full refund to those spectators who were unable to get into their seats by the 10.30am start, which they are able to track based on the scans of tickets.

Steve Elworthy, the tournament director, said: “I sincerely apologise to every single fan who was affected by the queues today. We have delivered over 700,000 tickets to more than 120 countries, but not all tickets were successfully delivered and as such we have seen a higher volume collecting at the venue. It is only right that we refund these fans by way of apology. The refund will happen automatically so the fans do not need to do anything.”

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