The Structure Is Set, Ya Never Change It With A Ballot Pull (Vol.7)

The first heat of Outside the Line's search for the ultimate cricket shot is now over, and we have our first pair of finalists. Here are the results:

                                                                                                              

We didn't prepare seedings beforehand, but if you had asked me who the favourites would've been, I probably would've said Mark Waugh and Rahul Dravid.

I can't say I really expected Dravid to be so utterly dominant, though. I mean, a defensive shot capturing almost half the vote? I think that tells you why Test cricket will never become a mainstream sport -- the joys for the casual fan and those for the geek are just far too different to be reconciled.

It was also surprising to see Pietersen's switch-hit ranking as high as it did... as a shot, it is obviously still in embryonic form and, to my eye at least, looks rather ungainly. Give him another decade or so and a few hundred Twenty20 games to work on it, and things could change. (It must be noted that all the votes KP received came from England.)

Anyway, on to the second heat. Another six classics, another two finalists just waiting for your vote.