NEW DELHI - 'Helicopter' shot, 'Marillier' scoop, switch-hitting, 'Dilscoop' ... the list of unorthodox one-day strokes is likely to grow by the time the World Cup ends in Mumbai on April 2.

Batsmen have become more audacious and innovative since 1971 when the first one-day international was played in Melbourne between England and Australia, just like a "normal game of cricket".

"In those days it was ordinary white clothing with two or three slips and a gully," said Australian offspinner Ashley Mallett, who bagged three wickets in that game.

"There were no fielding circles. It was just played like a normal game of cricket."

England batsman Kevin Pietersen was not just playing a "normal game of cricket" when he switch-hit (right-hander batting like a left-hander) Sri Lankan offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan for a six in the 2006 Edgbaston Test.

Pietersen sparked a debate over the legality of the shot, which was cleared by the ICC.

The shot wrongfoots the opposition because the field has already been set for a right-hander before he turns into a southpaw.

"Unbelievable as it may seem, the first time I played the switch-hit was in an international game, when Muralitharan was bowling at me at Edgbaston," Pietersen recently wrote in his column in an Indian newspaper.

"I was batting with Freddy Flintoff and there were not many on-side scoring opportunities what with Murali bowling a tight, uncompromising line.

"I decided to give the switch-hit a go and it paid off. Thankfully, I caught it sweet and I hit a six. Freddy came down and said 'What was that?' and laughed."

Pietersen, who said he had always been attracted to innovation, has also confounded the opposition with his 'flamingo' shot - pulled from wide of off-stump through mid-on while standing on one leg.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has found his own way of playing a yorker-length delivery over mid-on, leading the shot to be named as 'helicopter' because of rotation of the arms.

Zimbabwean Doug Marillier repeatedly scooped the ball over the wicketkeeper's head for fours to sink India in a one-dayer in Faridabad in 2002.

He came in to bat at No 10 when his side was facing defeat at 210-8 chasing a 275-run target, but turned the match upside-down with a 24-ball 56 not out to script an unlikely Zimbabwean victory.

The emergence of the Twenty20 cricket in 2005 has added new strokes to the vocabulary as batsmen do not hesitate playing high-risk shots.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/18/2011 page22)