*Official* - Road to India in South Africa - 2010-11

[Prince EWS]

I really hope the decks for this series are lively as hell. Even if they don't move too much, at the very least I hope they're fast and bouncy. I've seen a lot of subcontinental cricket of late and while I've always maintained that they have their charm, even I'm getting sick of watching cricket on slow, low wickets that are at their best for batting before lunch on the first day and slowly get worse. Watching tailenders and prank batsmen with **** techniques survive and/or make big, ugly, frustrating runs in drawn games is beginning to grind even my gears a bit, so the complete opposite is what I crave. Even if just for one series.

 

[brackenNY]

Gotta love the Ten Sports promos for this tour...

 

[vcs]

I really hope the decks for this series are lively as hell. Even if they don't move too much, at the very least I hope they're fast and bouncy. I've seen a lot of subcontinental cricket of late and while I've always maintained that they have their charm, even I'm getting sick of watching cricket on slow, low wickets that are at their best for batting before lunch on the first day and slowly get worse. Watching tailenders and prank batsmen with **** techniques survive and/or make big, ugly, frustrating runs in drawn games is beginning to grind even my gears a bit, so the complete opposite is what I crave. Even if just for one series.

Absolutely. Every country needs to retain their own unique flavour while making pitches at home. That's what makes Test cricket fascinating.

 

[GotSpin]

Absolutely. Every country needs to retain their own unique flavour while making pitches at home. That's what makes Test cricket fascinating.

This is a little off topic, but I recently heard the other day that curators in Australia were now being pressured by Cricket Australia to prepare unique and different pitches from now on, following complaints from players that they'd become all to similar in the mid 2000s

 

[Howe_zat]

Either way, if I never see Botha and Harris wheeling away in tandem again it'll be too soon.

The South Africans must know that the fast bowling is the only thing they've definitely got over India, it only makes sense for them to prepare a wicket to highlight that.

 

[Checkmate]

The South Africans must know that the fast bowling is the only thing they've definitely got over India, it only makes sense for them to prepare a wicket to highlight that.

It'll play right into our hands.

I get to watch most of this series live so can't wait!!! Predicting 2-1 India.

 

[Jarquis]

Either way, if I never see Botha and Harris wheeling away in tandem again it'll be too soon.

The South Africans must know that the fast bowling is the only thing they've definitely got over India, it only makes sense for them to prepare a wicket to highlight that.

Surely a green wicket will help the Indian seamers, so could potentially negate that advantage.
We've seen Steyn can take wickets on any surface, Sreesanth and Sharma need a helpful deck. Thus an unhelpful deck would highlight the advantage most?

 

[Howe_zat]

Surely a green wicket will help the Indian seamers, so could potentially negate that advantage.
We've seen Steyn can take wickets on any surface, Sreesanth and Sharma need a helpful deck. Thus an unhelpful deck would highlight the advantage most?

That's what I meant.

 

[Prince EWS]

Surely a green wicket will help the Indian seamers, so could potentially negate that advantage.
We've seen Steyn can take wickets on any surface, Sreesanth and Sharma need a helpful deck. Thus an unhelpful deck would highlight the advantage most?

Yeah there's a lot of logic to this. However:
- Morkel/Kallis are better on helpful decks than Sree/Sharma, but worse on flat ones
- South Africa create themselves an epic batting advantage of helpful bowling decks

 

[Janki_Jasoos]

India best fast bowler averages almost 40 on helpful South African pitches.

 

[Prince EWS]

India best fast bowler averages almost 40 on helpful South African pitches.

Stop trolling

 

[Bun]

Yeah there's a lot of logic to this. However:
- Morkel/Kallis are better on helpful decks than Sree/Sharma, but worse on flat ones
- South Africa create themselves an epic batting advantage of helpful bowling decks

Please check batting averages of SA batsmen last time India toured there.

 

[Checkmate]

Yeah there's a lot of logic to this. However:
- Morkel/Kallis are better on helpful decks than Sree/Sharma, but worse on flat ones
- South Africa create themselves an epic batting advantage of helpful bowling decks

We'll see about that.

 

[Prince EWS]

Please check batting averages of SA batsmen last time India toured there.

Please check batting averages of Indian batsmen in South Africa.

Fact is, South Africa's batsmen will suffer less of a hit in typical pace-friendly home conditions than India's batsmen.

 

[Prince EWS]

We'll see about that.

Okay it's debatable, but how about we just say that they'd benefit more from a lively track than the Indian bowlers.

 

[vcs]

Please check batting averages of Indian batsmen in South Africa.

Fact is, South Africa's batsmen will suffer less of a hit in typical pace-friendly home conditions than India's batsmen.

Certainly, based on historical records of Indian batsmen in SA. Let's hope that can change.

 

[Checkmate]

Okay it's debatable, but how about we just say that they'd benefit more from a lively track than the Indian bowlers.

If so it would be due to Steyn. I think the rest of the attack for both sides would be equalized by lively tracks.

 

[Jarquis]

Yeah there's a lot of logic to this. However:
- Morkel/Kallis are better on helpful decks than Sree/Sharma, but worse on flat ones
- South Africa create themselves an epic batting advantage of helpful bowling decks

Yeah, I see what you mean. I was just trying to point out the fallacy of "ZOMG Steyn and Morkel are good and Sree and Ishant are bad, so SA must prepare minefields so Steyn can take 8fers"

I don't think it'd be particularly clever for SA to produce greentops where it is 220 vs 195 in the first innings as even Sreesanth and Ishant will take wickets on those. But a good, lively, traditional (?) South African pitch, with good bounce and carry, a bit of movement and generally enough to keep the seam bowlers interested will benefit them most.
Steyn and Morkel are far more likely to make the most of those conditions, and the South African batting lineup is more likely to make runs in them as well.

 

[Prince EWS]

If so it would be due to Steyn. I think the rest of the attack for both sides would be equalized by lively tracks.

I think Steyn's the least likely to benefit actually. He takes cheap wickets regardless - a lively track would make all the other bowlers playing more dangerous and bring Steyn almost back to the pack.

 

[Checkmate]

I think Steyn's the least likely to benefit actually. He takes cheap wickets regardless - a lively track would make all the other bowlers playing more dangerous and bring Steyn almost back to the pack.

I see your point but wouldn't a great bowler be more effective on a helpful pitch than a merely good bowler? The more helpful the pitch, the more likely Steyn would be more effective than say Morkel/Kallis right?