PAUL COLLINGWOOD: Rule changes have made cricket better to watch

But it just seems to be this past six months that people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell have just got a new injection of confidence with the bat, the confidence they have going out to the middle, it’s as if there’s no consequences on the wicket and they’re playing in their backyard and having fun.

Pretty much every time AB got the bat in hand and went out there it was breath-taking. When you play the game and you understand the pace the bowlers are bowling at, added to their skill level, these batsmen are just making a mockery of it.

Watching at home you might think it’s not good bowling but there’s genuine pace out there and some of the batsmen are making the bowlers look like they’re bowling at a spinner’s pace. The innings Maxwell played against Sri Lanka, he was just standing and hitting the ball pretty much 360 degrees.

A lot of these players are doing it when they’ve got a platform but bowlers know McCullum is coming at them from ‘Ball one’.

That’s the approach he wanted his team to have and the role he has in the side and you can just sense the belief that he has. He can put a huge dent in a run chase in the first five overs of these new balls.

The only thing that bowlers can do at the moment is whinge about the rule change. Now it’s up to them to adapt and combat it.

You can talk about all the runs scored and the 400 but the game at Eden Park in the group stages, Australia and New Zealand had a memorable first match with the latter chasing down 152. It’s almost when the bowlers are on top and the ball’s swinging, it’s more of a Test match, much more attacking. That was a great game.

New Zealand’s win over South Africa in the semi-final was also a fantastic, dramatic game.

Some of the catches show how much the skill levels have moved on. One off the top of my head was Jerome Taylor on the boundary against South Africa, plucking it out of the air like it was picking an apple off a tree while running at full tilt with the foam boundary a couple of inches from his foot. Incredible.

People are making these things look simple now and I can assure you they’re not easy.

There has been ridiculous stuff all the way through the tournament. There’s been a wow factor and it’s been amazing to watch.

2015 © ICC Development (International) Limited