The progression of scoring rates, the evolution of target setting and chase acceleration has changed dramatically in the past five years and is a far cry from the formative years of one-day internationals in the 1980s. Nowadays you will back the chasing team in the above scenario.

That hasn't always been the case. In the days of Botham, Gower, Border, Jones, Richards and Miandad, if the required run rate moved past six an over then the fielding team were favoured to win the match.

A run a ball was the standard line, in Australian conditions at least. How times have changed.

Granted that totals were often bigger on sub continental ovals with fast outfields rewarding anything that got out of the inner ring.

Typically Asian stadiumsalso had shorter boundaries. Getting 60 off the last 10 overs at the MCG was touch and go with a greying, soft ball and boundary sixes that were only available if the ball was hit over the fence rather than to a roped-off mini version. What was required was clever placement into the acreage with hard running for twos rather then the modern version of acceleration, which is all about hitting, or clearing, the boundary rope.

Whether teams bat first or second their game plan will be divided into segments.

They will have targets in the opening power play when the balls are new; they will attack certain bowlers that they see as vulnerable. They have a second batting power play plan that more and more has an accent on caution rather than risk so often have batsmen fallen with reckless aggression when overdoing it.

Lastly they will budget a score for the final 10 overs after the power plays have finished. If the pitch is true then the last 10 overs become a half a Twenty20 match, but without the challenge of new balls swinging early to challenge batsmen.

With a new white aspro at each end the balls rarely become bruised and soft, they remain easy to see and rebound hard off the bat. The thick edges on new era bats also mean that accuracy of strike is much less important than speed of bat swing.

Batsmen can now reverse sweep canny spinners and "ramp" or "reverse ramp" the finest yorkers.

The yorker, a reliable fall-back for generations of "death" bowlers, can no longer be relied on to stem the flow of boundaries. Once upon a time a yorker slightly off length would at least hit the bottom of the bat, sixes could not be struck from that low on the blade. But the new clubs give batsmen a huge advantage. RIP the block-hole ball.

The combination of perimeter ropes set many metres inside the fences, cricket willow with exaggerated sweet spots and rebound coefficients that would be banned on the pro golf circuit, newer balls, fielding restrictions that give captains migraines and bowlers short careers – plus the inventiveness brought about by T20 – all lead to the new scorelines.

The allowance of only four fielders outside the inner circle makes it very difficult to contain batsmen who move around the crease.

It is rare to see a spinner on in the final overs in contemporary limited-over matches. In the last five overs two runs a ball is the new one a ball.

Three runs a ball is barely safe and, if A.B. de Villiers' 149 from 44 balls is to be a standard, then bowlers all over the world will be turning in their spikes for golf clubs.

It's about time the balance between leather and willow was restored. High-scoring run feasts are batting, not cricket, and are boring. Fans want big hits but they also want a contest.

Meanwhile, back at the hypothetical MCG, Australia have taken out the cup with eight balls and five wickets to spare. The winning hit went for six, they couldn't find the ball.