No, you certainly don't need numbers to tell you that cricket over the past few decades has grown multifold, became faster or even frenetic. Your intuition, if it has survived the whirlwind that was the advent of T20 cricket, the shock of the ‘Big Three’ takeover and the clear shift from cricket as a live spectator experience to a broadcast business, will tell you batters now score runs faster, that Tests finish in results other than draws more often, that India-England-Australia dominate the yearly fixtures, and cricketers play significantly more matches.

Whether it is about the orthodox shots that disappeared without a trace or the ever-changing field restrictions, cricket should be best known as the sporting world’s ‘chameleon’, constantly adapting to try and keep up with the changing attitudes of fans and players.