Friday, December 18, 2009

A complaint-worthy pitch

The WACA Perth. 395 runs on the second day. 16 wickets on the third day. Terrible stuff. Surely the ICC match referee will report this alternating flat-road/fire-breathing pitch to the higher-ups? Test cricket's survival depends on it.

I know I'm flogging a dead horse but its worth it. Somehow, somewhere, reporting on test cricket needs to get its head out of its posterior regions and not make the facile assertion that lots of runs or wickets in a day equals a bad pitch, Especially when we are constantly reminded that test cricket is dying because there is not enough entertainment, whether because of the pace of scoring or taking wickets.

5 Comments:

Blogger Thiru Cumaran said...

Samir, thinking abt what you just mentioned and about the Benn Haddin incident, I just realised that I've been living in a fantasy where everyone is good to each other and there's no racism.

TBH, I used to scoff others for thinking that the English and the Aussies were racists, but looks like that ain't one bit true...

And did you notice that the whole incident was downplayed on Cricinfo? The commentator at that time had written, at the end of the innings, that they might get a rap on their knuckles from the match-ref, but, later, those comments vanished! :(

2:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Everyone is certainly not good to each other and racism does exist. But not here. Really. There is a difference between bad, rude, unacceptable behaviour and being physically threatening, no matter how provoked.

1:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Racism is in every culture and india has abundance and 80% of the people suffering from it. What i hear from all indians is though aussies and icc were only racist.

Every country is racist if you look deep. it is kinda hidden in some place as it is not politically correct to not to talk about it. Everyone needs a mirror.

Chris broad just apply racism openly and aussie media praise him as strict referee. if ranjan madugalle ban ponting for two matches , you will whole aussie media look for a dirt in ranjan madugalle past playing history or anything.

i just hope chris broad is not match referee for pak-aus. It will explode.

1:33 PM  
Blogger Samir Chopra said...

CT: I can only surmise that Broad took Benn's history into account.

Anon: I'm not sure if I'm catching your drift.

2:11 PM  
Anonymous Butjazz said...

You know what Samir, reading your article made me immediately think of a previous India tour of NZ (the one before the last one). The wickets were landmines and lots of wickets fell everyday but I thoroughly enjoyed the cricket. The beauty of test cricket lies in the 'variety' of surfaces and hence the variety of TESTS that batsmen and bowler have to pass to be called very good.

One of the reasons the recent NZ-Pak series was so exciting was the surfeit of wickets everyday. There is a lot of bunkum in the name of sporting wickets. I have never quite understood the BCCI's obsession to produce wickets that will help the faster bowlers across India. Let the Perth and Durbans do that... we should have quality turners instead.. I guess i am drifting from your subject, but in all I wholly agree with your sentiment... don't make one general rule for every wicket. It's okay for 500 runs to be scored on a day and 20 wickets to fall on another!

3:31 PM  

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