And methinks the appropriate thread is: International cricket rolling thread where the self-appointed SDMB cricket tragics will field/debate whatever query you may have on the game.
The other impact on the observed play are the fielding restrictions.
The standard in domestic and international Twenty20 cricket is for no more than two fielders to be allowed outside the 30-yard circle for the first six overs of an innings. From the seventh over, no more than five fielders will be allowed outside the 30-yard circle.
But they are 30 yards away from the bat. At international or first class level, hell even at club level if a ball was hit in the air within reach of a fielder that distance away you’d expect the catch to be taken.