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| Mattie Hayden's mighty Mongoose |
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| Category: Shorts |
| Written by Luke Tagg |
| Friday, 19 March 2010 16:24 |
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The moment we've all been waiting for since the IPL began this year finally arrived today in the game between the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings in Delhi. Chasing a huge 186 to win, Chennai opened with Matthew Hayden and Parthiv Patel. Hayden spanked four boundaries in the second over but Patel got out on the first ball of the third. The rest of that over played out meekly. Hayden hit the first ball of the fourth over for four, then called for a new bat. And out it came: the Mongoose.  The short bat has been written and spoken about ever since Hayden indicated his intention to use it at some stage in the IPL, so it was kinda like Christmas, the Second Coming and a blonde with big tits all arriving at once. Clearly Hayden felt he was ready to give it a whirl, having middled a few in the opening overs. It was a risky gambit nonetheless. What's that they say about risk and reward? You can either lose big or go big. Hayden chose the latter. By the time he was out - having scored 93 runs off 43 balls, with seven brutal sixes and nine blistering boundaries - any doubts about that short-shit bat were laid firmly to rest. Crazy times. Good times. The handle of the Mongoose bat is 43% longer and the blade 33% shorter than the conventional bat. According to Hayden, that makes the sweet spot of the bat 120% sweeter. It's hard to argue his point when he smashes it to all parts and chases down a huge score with 5 balls to spare. You wouldn't want to be using that Mongoose if you're planning on batting out the final day of a Test in an effort to save the game. In T20 cricket, however, you shouldn't be playing too many straight-bat defensive shots. It's impossible to tell whether Hayden's blistering innings was down to the Mongoose, his own skill or both, but I can tell you that the speed with which the ball disappeared over the ropes was noticeably more fierce. I wonder if it'll catch on? I reckon you need quite a bit of confidence to use that baby. Scorecard 
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