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    A damp squib of a Test match

    By Jonathan Liew last year, mid-December Leave a comment on this post

    Mike Selvey was seeing the Galle squelch-pit through uncharacteristically rose-tinted glasses in yesterday’s Guardian:

    Already there has been insensitive and thoughtless talk about shifting the match back to Colombo - as if that is the sort of thing that happens when rain is forecast for Chester-le-Street, or the Old Trafford outfield has been damaged by concert-goers. It just goes to show how some people are incapable of seeing a wider picture beyond their wraparound shades: anyone who suggests such a thing has failed to grasp what this match at this ground means to Galle specifically and to Sri Lanka in general.

    The point Selvey was making, I think, is that it doesn’t really matter if there’s any meaningful cricket or not in Galle: as long as everyone turns up and mumbles some vaguely heartfelt sentiments about how much it means to the region, it’s really rather immaterial that a Test series is ruined and the England fans who have travelled thousands of miles to see proper Test cricket are instead treated to something rather akin to the serious bits of Comic Relief.

    Obviously - obviously - it’s great that Galle is getting back on its feet, and it’s also nice to see international cricketers recognising the existence of something more important than cricket. Yet at the same time, there’s a Test match to be played, and either the ground’s fit to stage it, or it’s not. If it’s not, then moving the Test would have been simple common sense. Not only that, but it would have given Galle time to make a grand, dignified re-entrance to the Test arena, rather than the sodden mess that looks like ensuing.

    If it’s playable, then, you know, fine. Hoggy’ll like a bowl on it. But while this outpouring of generosity and consideration to a town still trying to remake itself is absolutely the right thing to do, you do wonder whether it could be done without also devaluing Test cricket, which is in the interests of nobody. Offering support and assistance to those in need is one thing; ruining an enthralling Test series to achieve it smacks of perversity.

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    5 Responses to “A damp squib of a Test match”

  • Alan R wrote:
    December 18th, 2007 at 6.52 am

    According to the BBC, if England doesn’t win this match, they’ll drop 3 spots in the ICC rankings, so this is no charity match.

    It will be interesting to see whether the bad conditions, which have already cost a valuable session, might actually help produce more wickets and thus offset the lost time. On the other hand, if the dampness of the pitch simply reduces bounce and makes batting easier there’s no doubt that Sri Lanka will bat England out of the series and out of the top 4 test sides.

  • Ashwin wrote:
    December 18th, 2007 at 7.01 am

    Lets say, England is 1 up in the 2009 Ashes going into the final test which cant begin bcoz it bloody rains at the Oval all the time. Any Englishmen with balls to say, hey lets shift venue to give Australia a complete chance at squaring the series?

    Also can’t the friggin ECB, which sends out a few jokers to inspect security before England travel to Pakistan/India/Timbuktu, also send some scouts to see if stadiums are fit to stage cricket??

    Oh btw, just curious if you would have said the same thing were England 1 up in this series……

  • chris wrote:
    December 18th, 2007 at 9.03 am

    Don’t worry, I’m sure the 1850 odd test matches played so far won’t be devalued by one match played on a less than ideal strip. Cricket is bigger than wickets.

  • chrisn wrote:
    December 20th, 2007 at 12.54 am

    Aren’t you conflating the weather conditions with the pitch conditions? Selvey’s right that in England we wouldn’t shift a test from Chester-le-street to Lords if the weather conditions looked a bit more favourable in London. Weather is too unpredictable, and the investment in setting up the test is too high. All Selvey says is that the pitch in Galle may be unpredictable, but that we should put up with that. Part of the fun in general is teaching oneself to put up with the pitch. Nothing new here.

  • ddm wrote:
    December 20th, 2007 at 12.28 pm

    SL - 499
    England 81 all out

    yes - what an awful test match.

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