ICC and flat pitches?

[slugger]

but thats the point.. if thats the case the home team is going to minimalise the advantage by making a fair pitch.. because the home team wants to make sure they succeed regardless if the asked to field or bat first.

 

[burr]

It is a big problem, you notice it very much in Aus where all the pitches are losing their character. That pitch prepared for the 4th Test in the India v Aus 2004 series - it may have been a so-called 'shocker', and the game may have been over ridiculously early, but it was just so entertaining seeing most batsmen not have a clue and the ball spitting all over the place. That obviously shouldn't be the norm but if cricket administrators continue to demand flat decks just so tests will last 5 days the crowds will go anyway because the reputation will spread cricket is a dull no-contest where batsman simply inflate their averages.

 

[Lostman]

icc are the ones responsible for creating these crappy wickets, so that they can get more revenue if the game lasts 5 days. It started with that big guy spraying some garbage on those indian wickets during the icc championship. And if iam not mistaken they made an announcement to "improve" the quality of wickets after this.

 

[slugger]

this is all starting to sound like racketeering, rather than making adjustments to the game to accomadate the changing lifestyles of the public. just the ideas raised of late to accomdate the modern lifestyle..d/n test 4 day test.

 

[Richard]

but thats the point.. if thats the case the home team is going to minimalise the advantage by making a fair pitch.. because the home team wants to make sure they succeed regardless if the asked to field or bat first.

There's no such thing as a "fair" or "unfair" pitch. Any surface is going to favour someone, it's the home team's responsibility to make one that helps their bowlers (or not helps their opposition's bowlers as the case may be) as much as possible.

If the touring side automatically gets choice of bat\field, this lowers that advantage.

 

[TT Boy]

Tbh... its the cricket in the subcontinent that is the most dull.

Cricket in England and New Zealand is by far the most interesting because the pitches arent slow and there is something in them for everyone.

I am far less excited when watching a test in Sri Lanka than when England are playing at home for example.

Wickets in New Zealand are (traditionally) pretty slow (compared to Australia, South Africa) and in most cases voided of decent bounce. There only make good test wickets for there is exaggerated lateral movement.

 

[Migara]

Any comments about the roards that are used to play cricket in Australia?

 

[Richard]

Yes, there've been plenty - almost all negative.

 

[sideshowtim]

Doesn't Australia get more results than any other place in the world though? In recent times anyway?

 

[Fiery]

Doesn't Australia get more results than any other place in the world though? In recent times anyway?

That's probably due to ability rather than pitches

 

[silentstriker]

That's probably due to ability rather than pitches

No probably about it.

 

[Manee]

You are probably all sick to death of my fast bowling related posts but I think that the pitches may have become slightly flatter but a lack of quality fast bowling exacerbates the problem.

Looking toward the past, you had Gough, Waqar, Wasim, Ambrose, Walsh, Mcgrath - just to name a few but these days there are few bowlers of the accuracy, ability or agression.

 

[Richard]

Doesn't Australia get more results than any other place in the world though? In recent times anyway?

Flat pitches don't automatically discourage results - especially if Australia bat first. Provided Australia pile-up 500 or 600, there's a very high chance the oppo will collapse in a heap.

Obviously, the general dryness of Australia is helpful for result-getting too.