*I am seriously sick of seeing these pitches. Add to that, these mini-me grounds make it worse. The bowlers do nothing but run in and get spanked. They are always on the defensive, and we see no attacking strategies which are such an essential part of this beautiful sport. I do realize that it’s a test of skills for the bowlers, but there is a fine line between these pitches providing a test and being completely unfair to the bowlers.
I don’t know what kind of impatient dumbass spectators the authorities cater to when they prepare these pitches, but I am simply getting tired of them. I really hope we don’t see such patta wickets in the World Cup, because I will probably be sick to my stomach by the end of the tournament if it is indeed the case. My rant for today is over.
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If anyone made a score of 392 in Pakistan everyone would be all over it. But funny how those same unsporting wickets become "entertaining" when its SA or Australia or England etc.
*Exactly right! Dumbass spectators don’t only exist in Pakistan you know.
Just as a side note, I can’t complain much about Aussie wickets because usually they provide little bit of assistance for the bowlers and the grounds are huge. This ground in South Africa for the first ODI was ridiculously small and there was nothing at all in the pitch for the bowlers (and yes, I also hate Kiwi grounds for the same exact reason, although again there is a balance as their wickets are usually quite helpful for the seamers).*
From what I recall, the pitches in the Caribbean are flat and the grounds are small. I bet weed is easily available at fine-leg too. WC is also going to be a bowler's nightmare.
deffinetly has become one sided, thats why the odi's in england and aus are usually more exciting and nail biting, because the bowlers always have a chance for picking a wicket!
I have said this before and I will say it again :
The way ODIs are played today - unless a bowler is of the stature of McGrath or Akram, he should not be included in the ODI team.
So , for example, in the Indian team - I am sure the bowling of Tendulkar/Sehwag in ODIs will be as good or as bad as Zaheer/Agarkar in most matches...so why not pack your team with just batsmen.
This whole money game is like an omen to the cricket in this decade. It will take time to stablize after 5 or so years I guess. Until Desi teams (and some gora/kala teams as well) learn to deal with extra pace, swing and seam the current khussi-punn of the pitches will plague this game.
Let assume down the road all teams (from No. 2 to 7) in ODI, level themselves with RSA, there will be no need of these pitches. When everyone can play fasties/seamers more or less equally, bowling friendly pitches will be essential to have a fair battle. There will be less chances of these teams to collapse under 150 every other game. So a minimum 90 over game will be assured to the sponsers.
Thats all commercialism bull-****, but sadly currently ICC has taken away the game from bowlers for spectature's pleasure.
If all the cricket authorities want to do is to attract dumb zombie-like fans who want to see sixes and fours for 100 overs, then I shall denounce ODI's and focus on test matches until the situation is sorted out. I find no pleasure in the matches played on these patta pitches what so ever!
I still use chappals for anyone who calls the AUS-SA match last year as the “best ODI match ever”. It wasn’t moron, it was a freakin’ slogfest. The best ODI match ever was played between the same two teams, but it was in the World Cup of 1999 and where both teams even collectively hardly scored 400 runs in the match. Bunch of laparoo lovers; they can kiss my conservative rear end.
P.S: Some1 bhai, are you planning to open the bowling with Sehwag and Ganguly in the World cup ?*
Some1 bhai, are you planning to open the bowling with Sehwag and Ganguly in the World cup :) ?
If it was up to me, the answer is YES.
I mean this suggestion is not as radical as it seems. It is actually common sense. Somebody should do a research and look into how many times in ODIs an "average" full time bowler (like say Munaf Patel or Agarkar for India) actually returned better figures than a "part-time" bowler like Tendulkar/Sehwag. I will say not many times. So why even bother including an "average" full-time bowler. Why not just pack the team with batsmen. The ODI format is anyway biased against bowlers.
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