Your ideal ODI pitch?

[Richard]

mi****s gets censored...(I'm easily amused)

I still always forget to type night-watchman and end-up with nigh****chman.

 

[Richard]

Well, there's ropes on every ground now, which obviously reduces the size somewhat. On some grounds (eg Adelaide, often) ropes are brought in a hell of a long way, and it's also a lot easier to hit a six as you don't have to clear a metre high fence, you just need to clear a rope.

And that's a great shame IMO - even in the relatively small grounds in NZ, we saw loads of strokes recently that went for four that, had the ropes been right on the edge of the field, would have been hauled-in.

I mean, obviously on some grounds you need the rope in a bit from the edge of the ground for safety reasons, but mostly it's way too far.

 

[Dick Rockett]

I'm of the opinion that the safety aspect is being used as an excuse by administrators to bring the ropes in and artificially inflate the scores in one day matches. I'm not saying that we don't need some sort of safety margin, but it's ridiculous atm.

 

[Richard]

I mean, in some cases it's reasonable - but in somewhere like Adelaide it's just done to ridiculous proportions. And The MCG hasn't been much better.

And some of the NZ grounds seemed to be moving them in far more than was neccessary.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Not me.

You were the main character in the fish story.

 

[Richard]

Come on, then... elaborate?

 

[Jamee999]

(Neil's just told me on MSN)

Goldfish. Cricket. Running off.

 

[Richard]

Oh, of course!

Not goldfish, though. Just pondfish. And there's no way I'd've gone had it been a competetive game. And I do rather wish I'd thought of some other excuse now. It's true that that was why I had to get home but it must have sounded just a touch on the lame side.

And I'd've come back, too, if Yeoey hadn't sounded so blatantly not-serious when he rang me.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Oh, of course!

Not goldfish, though. Just pondfish. And there's no way I'd've gone had it been a competetive game. And I do rather wish I'd thought of some other excuse now. It's true that that was why I had to get home but it must have sounded just a touch on the lame side.

And I'd've come back, too, if Yeoey hadn't sounded so blatantly not-serious when he rang me.

The fish would have been fine.

 

[Richard]

Well "the fish" was what I said. It somehow got twisted into "goldfish".

 

[Craig]

I mean, in some cases it's reasonable - but in somewhere like Adelaide it's just done to ridiculous proportions. And The MCG hasn't been much better.

And some of the NZ grounds seemed to be moving them in far more than was neccessary.

What about the WACA? That has come right in.

 

[Laurrz]

SCG or Gabba

 

[Richard]

What about the WACA? That has come right in.

Didn't take note of that.

Not that I disbelieve you or anything.

 

[vic_orthdox]

WACA's outfield has been ridiculously quick over the past few years recently too. Probably the most conducive ground to high scores in the country ATM.

 

[Nishant]

Well what is it?

For me it is to offer something for the bowlers early on, and then to flaten out and be a good wicket, and with a total between 240-300.

id like that as well! it should have something for the seam bowlers upfront....then faltten out for batsmen to hit boundaries and score some runs!

And we cant forget the spinners!.....a liitle something for the spinners so that their talent can come through. Obviously we dont want a pitch where the ball spins square!

I think in ODIs...its always better to have batsmen friendly pitches to create more excitemnet! But, thats coming from a pure batsman...so i am a bit biased!

 

[Langeveldt]

Anything from the Champions Trophy..

I was delightful to see techniques exposed, and the real class acts of batting come to the fore.. I'd rather see 3 runs an over, a tense finish, and maybe a classic Kallis/Dravid 80 than 350 plays 350 and a guy like McCullum hitting a truck load..

The fact that SA have the potential to win a world cup by not playing a spinner on surfaces that are likely to be roads, well it's a bit depressing in a pure cricket loving sense..

 

[Richard]

Well South Africa haven't exactly had a top-class spinner for about 50 years...

IMO relying on seam isn't neccessarily a bad thing - you can do it in a way you can't on spin. Quality seamers will prevail on any surface; the same thing can't be said of quality fingerspinners; and quality wristspinners are never common enough that you can have an attack-full of them.

 

[Dick Rockett]

I was delightful to see techniques exposed, and the real class acts of batting come to the fore.. I'd rather see 3 runs an over, a tense finish, and maybe a classic Kallis/Dravid 80 than... 350 plays 350 and a guy like McCullum hitting a truck load.

Umm, why?

 

[Richard]

I was gonna emphasise that and see how many Kiwis jumped on Lang... was expecting Fiery before you, tho...

Oh... yeah... I'd like to say congratulations to McCullum. I'd never have believed he had it in him to play the innings he played in the Third ODI, BTW. But he did.

 

[Craig]

Anything from the Champions Trophy..

I was delightful to see techniques exposed, and the real class acts of batting come to the fore.. I'd rather see 3 runs an over, a tense finish, and maybe a classic Kallis/Dravid 80 than 350 plays 350 and a guy like McCullum hitting a truck load..

The fact that SA have the potential to win a world cup by not playing a spinner on surfaces that are likely to be roads, well it's a bit depressing in a pure cricket loving sense..

Nah your team will blow it.