What's wrong in South Africa?

[TT Boy]

Strange how the ODI wickets are roads in South Africa and the test wickets for the past eighteen months have either been green tops or square turners (most of the time).

If this game wasn't a day/nighter at Durban then IMO South Africa would have chased that total. Kingsmead under light's (almost like Cape Town) is an improbable task for most sides. The conditions do change that dramatically and as soon as Pakistan won the toss you had to back them heavily. Regardless.

 

[Richard]

Interesting - I was always under the impression that the Oval was the biggest in the UK. Can you find the County Ground Derby and the County Ground Exeter whilst you're at it?

It was.

They then built a new stand.

 

[Richard]

Yes. Here are the dimensions of all the South African grounds, along with the English, Australian, and NZ test grounds thrown in for good measure. All dimensions are in metres, taken from the longest points down the ground, and square, relative to the wicket block. Ground length is quoted first. Thanks to Google Earth for their multi-purpose software.

South Africa

Newlands, Cape Town - 137 x 132
New Wanderers, Johannesburg - 155 x 132
St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth - 135 x 128
Kingsmead, Durban - 143 x 123
Buffalo Park, East London - 145 x 148
De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley - 143 x 142
Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein - 163 x 141
Supersport Park, Centurion - 148 x 130
Willowmoore Park, Benoni - 149 x 130
Boland Bank Park, Paarl - 161 x 142
Sedgars Park, Potchefstroom - 160 x 136

England

Lord's, London - 160 x 130
The Oval, London - 141 x 146
Trent Bridge, Nottingham - *
Old Trafford, Manchester - 148 x 141
Headingley, Leeds - 147 x 142
Edgbaston, Birmingham - 143 x 141

Australia

Melbourne Cricket Ground - 148 x 179
Sydney Cricket Ground - 163 x 148
The 'Gabba, Brisbane - 138 x 164
Bellerive Oval, Hobart- 175 x 133
Adelaide Oval - 189 x 125
WACA, Perth - 138 x 151

New Zealand

Eden Park, Auckland - 144 x 141**
McLean Park, Napier - 161 x 124
Seddon Park, Hamilton - *
Basin Reserve, Wellington - 147 x 147
Westpac Stadium, Wellington - 164 x 129
Lancaster Park, Christchurch - 146 x 122
Carisbrook, Dunedin - 143 x 112

* These grounds couldn't be measured due to the image available being too low in resolution.
** Not an accurate indication of the ground's size, given the strange dimensions of the playing area.

Fascinating... and good stuff, I might add.

A great shame you couldn't add The County Ground, Taunton to that list...

So my guess that SA grounds are not exponentially smaller than those in Eng and NZ was roughly right, then?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Would've thought that quite a few of them are smaller than those found in England.

 

[Dick Rockett]

A great shame you couldn't add The County Ground, Taunton to that list...

So my guess that SA grounds are not exponentially smaller than those in Eng and NZ was roughly right, then?

Pretty much, although the square boundaries are a little shorter by the look of it.

I had a look at Taunton, that area too is of poor quality in Google Earth.

 

[Richard]

I know - we're poorly reprisented down 'ere in ' SouthEast.

 

[Pup Clarke]

'ere QUOTE]

Isn't that northern talk or am I talking roooobish?

 

[Richard]

I don't really think of myself as a Northerner any more. Was ripped from the area 11-et-demi years ago. Just general colloquial talk - which, believe me, is best the way it's kept between me and 16toS.

 

[Jono]

Obviously it is hard to know the exact reason but Ill offer a few potential reasons apart from the obvious smallish grounds and good batting conditions.

- SA was one of the 1st countries to accept 20/20 cricket. Pro 20 here is an established and important part of the domestic game and it has changed perceptions and attitudes on what is achievable when batting

- SA play with a number of aggressive, hard hitting middle/lower order allrounders. Guys like Kemp, Boucher, Pollock etc add explosiveness later in the order. However, maybe more importantly they give SA a very long batting lineup. This allows the top order to play with a massive amount of freedom as they know there is depth to come even if they get out. An issue Englands batsmen have struggled with until recently.

- Obviously oppostition teams know SA are capable of scoring big totals and they therefore have to pre-empt this SA batting onslaught which means they have to go hell for leather as well.

My 2 cents

Yet this South African team didn't make 350-400 in Australia too often, whether it was against Australia or Sri Lanka back in 2005/06.

 

[tooextracool]

English wickets used for ODIs have generally become very flat, that's it too.

English wickets are still amongst the least flat in the world. Other than the SL series this summer(which can be excused given that it included some of the worst bowling performances by any attack in world cricket) you would very rarely see scores of 300+ in the last decade, and seeing 2 teams get 300 are even rarer with the 2002 natwest final being an exception.

 

[LA ICE-E]

the only solution i can see suitable for both marketing and not letting runs get out of hand is make the minimum odi and test field area requirement more and let 20/20 stadiums be smaller like it is now.

 

[TT Boy]

Yet this South African team didn't make 350-400 in Australia too often, whether it was against Australia or Sri Lanka back in 2005/06.

But half their team was either injured or carrying injuries throughout the VB series. It was hardly South Africa at full strength.

 

[Prince EWS]

But half their team was either injured or carrying injuries throughout the VB series. It was hardly South Africa at full strength.

Their bowling.. yes. Their batting was relatively full strength though IIRC.

 

[honestbharani]

I got the impression that the square boundaries are shorter in grounds in RSA than in other places. And I guess the bounce is higher than what you get in the subcontinent, but still even. That brings the short square boundaries into play, doesn't it? And the tracks are pacier than what you get in the subcontinent and the ball doesn't stop at the batters etc., which can happen here. This way, everything becomes just right for batsmen. Those grounds must be quite similar to Chennai, I guess.

 

[sideshowtim]

Not only are the grounds miniscule, but the ropes are in. This is not good for South African cricket.

As we saw in the VB series, when the grounds got bigger and the conditions not so batting friendly they struggled big time. I think they are going to have a hard time of it in the Windies especially considering that they struggled so much in the Champions Trophy and similair decks are expected in the World Cup.

 

[Craig]

I've seen arieal shots of Adelaide Oval and it looks like a (oversized?) 400m running track.

 

[Langeveldt]

Can you do the most westerly cricket ground in Grahamstown?? I'd be interested to see if its bigger than the test grounds, because it feels absolutely huge..

 

[Richard]

Not only are the grounds miniscule, but the ropes are in. This is not good for South African cricket.

As we saw in the VB series, when the grounds got bigger and the conditions not so batting friendly they struggled big time. I think they are going to have a hard time of it in the Windies especially considering that they struggled so much in the Champions Trophy and similair decks are expected in the World Cup.

Despite getting to the semis, and despite WI grounds being similar in proportion to SA ones...

 

[Poker Boy]

Two points. Should all grounds be standardised (probably not - on the big Aussie grounds they would need to bring the ropes in) - and is there a minimum size for boundaries like in football where there is a minimum width the pitch can be for international matches? And if there isn't a minimum should they be? Also, is it my imagination, or do floodlights make more of a difference in SA than other countries? Last year Australia and India got bowled out for double figures under lights replying to good SA scores while in the current CB series NZ nearly chased over 300 under lights. Are SA's lights poorer than Australia's just like their team? (When they are on that is) - last night's blackout was not the first -it happened on an England tour too - but it didn't stop us winning that match as Pakistan did last night.

 

[Richard]

Eng and SA are the most swing-friendly countries, certainly.

Overcast skies make more of a difference there.

Night\dusk time makes more of a difference.

(Floodlights don't, though)