The two-fielder limit behind square is what makes the short ball survivable

A bowling plan that would be unplayable with four men out on the leg side is instead a negotiation, and batters have worked that out.

Only two are allowed behind square on the leg side. That single line in the playing conditions does more to shape modern batting than any equipment change, and it is the reason a short-ball plan is a bluff rather than a trap.

Think about the geometry the bowler faces. He wants the hook and the pull, because those are the shots that go to hand. The catching positions for them sit fine leg, deep backward square and long leg, and he is permitted two of the three. Choose deep and fine, and the batter simply pulls in front of square into a gap. Choose square, and the top edge goes over the keeper for four. Every arrangement leaves a hole, and a competent batter has been told exactly where it is before he walked out.

So what the short ball is actually doing is buying a different delivery. It is not a wicket ball. It is an unsettling ball that pushes the batter's weight onto the back foot, and the wicket comes two deliveries later when a fuller one brings him forward off balance. That sequence costs runs to set up, and a captain in a limited-overs match often refuses to pay it, which is why we see so many short balls bowled in isolation with no follow-up and no plan.

The regulation exists for a good reason and I would not change it. Unlimited leg-side packing produced a form of the game that was unwatchable and dangerous, and everybody involved knows the history. But the second-order effect is that the bouncer's value now sits almost entirely in the fear it creates rather than in the field it can be bowled to, and fear is an unreliable asset against players raised on decent helmets and hard synthetic surfaces.

The exception is the tail, where the plan works because the batter cannot execute the shot regardless of where the fielders are. Which tells you something uncomfortable. Against good players the short ball is a negotiation. Against bad ones it is a weapon, and a fair amount of what looks like devastating fast bowling is really a strong bowler bullying somebody who bats at nine.

Watch how quickly it stops when a proper batter comes back in.