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Whither, Test cricket?
By Will last year, at the end of November, 13 Comments »
Friends keep asking me lately whether I’m missing covering cricket since I moved jobs. There’s no doubt I will miss it, probably when England’s Test series gets underway and certainly if Kevin Pietersen inhales the pantomime-fury foaming from the stands to cough out something truly spectacular.
But no, I won’t miss it so long as there are pitches as spirit-crushingly lifeless as the one at Kanpur. India are 417 for 2 at stumps on the first day. Ninety overs of tedium. Three sessions of bat dominating ball, crushing bowlers’ will to live and bowl. This could be classed as entertainment, and I’m sure millions of Indians loved the sight of Gambhir and Sehwag flogging it willy-nilly to all parts. But I’m equally sure that a sizeable portion of them craved to watch the nuance of technical discipline and, well, competition.
There are lots of partly cynical, often highly plausible, reasons for the state of Test cricket being in its current apparently precarious position. Pitches are certainly a factor. And there’s one thought that the TV companies demand – sorry, politely request – that matches last as long as possible in order to drive up their revenues. This means one thing: a dead pitch, lots of batting, definitely plenty of fours, and a greater chance of the match being extended into five days.
But sooner or later, this greed for cash – by whom we’re not sure or at liberty to suggest – will come back to haunt them, because I sense a very strong sense of pissed-offness by fans these days who are no longer willing to be conned by these turgid concrete slabs which offer so little to the game, rendering captaincy and tactics almost redundant and leaving bowlers reaching for diazepam or a long piece of rope. Bowlers, fans – whatever.
Yes, the game is a business. Cricinfo makes money out of it. So do dozens of TV channels. Sport is huge business. But if you don’t protect the essential fabrics of the product, those interested in making money out of it will soon disappear. And what state would the sport be in then?
13 Comments »The pitch – it’s alive after all
By Will last year, at the start of March, 4 Comments »
Not in Trinidad, yet, but in Durban. Everything’s kicking off over there and Australia have South Africa 14 for 3 – effectively four-down since Smith’s retired hurt. Bruteish fast bowling from Dale Steyn in the morning, and now Mitchell Johnson in the afternoon.
Beats the shit out of the Trinidad game.
4 Comments »The halfway line
By Richard Seeckts last year, mid-February, 3 Comments »
Talk to cricketers of a bygone era and they will tell you that batting has become much easier since pitches were completely covered during rain breaks in the 1970s. Statistics strongly support their case. In 2008,46 batsmen averaged over 40 in English first class cricket. 40 years earlier, 10 players achieved the same.
There will be no going back to uncovered pitches. Apart from the fact that modern players could not cope, the commercial world requires weather related delays to be kept to a minimum, and one can only imagine what the health and safety experts would make of professional sportsmen running on wet grass.
We have seen the worst and the best of Antiguan ground management over the last few days. Few, if any, other grounds could have made the horlicks achieved at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, but can anyone seriously envisage an English ground being Test Match fit from a state of partial dereliction within 40 hours, as the Antigua Recreation Ground was? That the pitch had been used mostly for football since the ground was abandoned as a first class cricket venue in 2006 makes the transformation all the more laudable.
England’s first innings score suggested to many that the wicket remained as good as those on which Brian Lara twice broke the record Test score. Andrew Flintoff might beg to differ. Blasted out by a daisy-cutting shooter from Jerome Taylor, Flintoff was the first victim of the halfway line horror. Several deliveries pitched on the thinly disguised football pitch line, which runs straight across the pitch just short of a good length for bowlers from the Factory Road end. His was the first to take a wicket. Flintoff was desperately unlucky that his second ball was one such delivery, virtually unplayable, but with his bowling boots on, he may yet see the funny side of being the only member of England’s cosy top six not to reach 50.
Inadvertently, the groundsmen of the Antigua Recreation Ground have hit upon a great innovation to spice up top-level cricket. How much more interesting might the game be if all Test pitches had a five inch strip of unpredictable ground randomly placed by someone with no knowledge of cricket? The ICC wouldn’t have trouble finding the right personnel. It would be the same for both sides, but the kind of hazard that could strike any player at any time. A player could bat all day and score 169, like Andrew Strauss, or be sawn off without time to break sweat, like Flintoff.
A few averages might be dented, but how harsh would selectors be on players who were clearly victims of the halfway line lottery? Groundsmen would be free to prepare really good batting pitches with reduced risk of dull, high scoring draws as the line would surely claim a few victims in a five day match.
Most of cricket’s law changes have been made in favour of batsmen since the inception of one-day cricket. Thanks to the recent shambles in Antigua, we have chanced upon an opportunity for the bowlers to have one in their favour. The batsmen of yesteryear might also enjoy seeing their successors having just a small taste of what playing on uncovered pitches was like.
3 Comments »Australia vs New Zealand
By Scott 5 years ago, at the start of December, 5 Comments »
Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Time! It is in New Zealand this year, and Australia look resplendent in the new ‘away’ strip with a green shirt and gold pants. They now look half as silly as normal.
New Zealand won the toss, and sent Australia in to bat. And Jeremy Coney is the Master of Pitch Reports! What desire! What hunger! What passion for the pitch! This is a man who knocks on the pitch to see how good it is. He leaves the rest for dead.
5 Comments »World class facilities. Mine field pitches
By Will 5 years ago, mid-July, 4 Comments »
Watching Warwickshire v Durham, Ian Botham made a good point about the pitch – which is quite obviously a mine field, as Durham are 32 for 6. Durham have improved their Riverside ground beyond recognition – it’s one ground I would love go to. As have, of course, Hampshire at their Rosebowl ground. Both of these have world-class facilities, both receiving millions in funding – yet both pitches are mine fields. While these two counties have forced the improvement of other grounds, such as Leeds, to reach their lofty standards, their pitches need improving if they are to ever be granted the honour of regular Test matches. A great shame – you’d think that the pitch would be the most important aspect of a ground’s regeneration; it seems all the glitzy, shiny, corporate bullshit is more important these days…
4 Comments »Rosebowl pitch – surely an inspection? Hampshire 37-8
By Will 5 years ago, mid-June, 3 Comments »
After a very disappointing innings by England, helped by Strauss and Pietersen, Hampshire are on the verge of a humilating defeat: they are 37/8. 3 wickets for Simon Jones, Darren Gough apiece, and one for Fred. I’ve heard rumours of complaints about the Rosebowl pitch and, on the evidence of today, an inspection must surely be called for.
37/8! Madness
3 Comments »