*Official* Sri Lanka in India

[cricman]

Superb batting by Laxman here, If Sangu wanted to leave he could have told his boys to bowl a few full tosses to Sachin an Hour ago

 

[cricman]

numero 43

 

[G.I.Joe]

Its a second innings century, so it HAS to be more valuable than a first innings one!

 

[biased indian]

43 & 88...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[The Sean]

Its a second innings century, so it HAS to be more valuable than a first innings one!

1598 runs for 21 wickets over the five days. God I hope the rest of the series is like this.

 

[biased indian]

43 & 88...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and 123 away from 13k in test

 

[cricman]

If the Sri Lankans feel that the Kanpur track is another road they won't even bother to go out and field they'll bat to 1000/8d

 

[Ikki]

That was torture.

 

[Uppercut]

Indeed. Need to start castrating these groundsmen.

 

[Howsie]

A well spent five days

 

[G.I.Joe]

Indeed. Need to start castrating these groundsmen.

Apparently Kumble was furious after the last test against SA at this ground, and let the groundsman know exactly what he thought of the day 1 pitch. The Gujarat board didn't want a repeat, and castigated the groundsman themselves too.

This is a pissed off groundsman giving them the middle finger in return.

 

[four_or_six]

Can't blame anyone for preferring T20 to that.

 

[Uppercut]

Apparently Kumble was furious after the last test against SA at this ground, and let the groundsman know exactly what he thought of the day 1 pitch. The Gujarat board didn't want a repeat, and castigated the groundsman themselves too.

This is a pissed off groundsman giving them the middle finger in return.

Assholes. This ****'s killing cricket.

 

[honestbharani]

Apparently Kumble was furious after the last test against SA at this ground, and let the groundsman know exactly what he thought of the day 1 pitch. The Gujarat board didn't want a repeat, and castigated the groundsman themselves too.

This is a pissed off groundsman giving them the middle finger in return.

lol... I am sure the BCCI and Kumble would have wanted THIS track against RSA and THAT track against SL...

 

[honestbharani]

Hmm, I'm not (anymore) someone who complains about turning wickets, so I'm in agreement with your first point.

As for your final point, I don't agree that seaming wickets reduce the game to luck. It's nothing to do with chance that Durham win every single match at Chester-le-Street they play, and if we saw any of those pitches in a test match there'd be some serious moaning. Cricket matches lasts five days, or even if they only last three days, that's still 20-odd hours of play. Moreso than any other sport, the team who wins is almost invariably the one that performs best.

I didn't say ALL seaming wickets reduce the game to luck.. I was referring specifically to the stupidly prepared green tops which flatten out at least a little later. Then, winning the toss becomes all important. As I said, if you had seen the 2 tests against NZ for India at that time, you would understand. Instead of passing judgement that NZ played better, you would do well to watch the series and see how the pitch was progressively.. Sure NZ were better in the first test, but the second test was an absolute lottery on the toss...

And trust me, on any track offering the bowlers more than reasonable advantage, luck plays a HUGE role in the outcome.. The Barbados match when we were bowled out for 120, for instance.. The 3rd and 4th innings were extremely difficult to bat on and even the best batsmen could get something off a crack and can do nothing about it, with the bowler having done remotely nothing different to his previous deliveries except somehow pitching it an inch this way or that way on a crack instead of the length of his previous deliveries.

 

[andruid]

0-0 test series anyone?

 

[silentstriker]

And secondly, any track which favours either discipline too much over the other is a bad track in my book.

I'd humbly suggest you purchase another book. To me, that's what Test cricket is all about. Sometimes you're forced to play a crazy spin track, sometimes a crazy seaming track, sometimes somewhere in the middle, and sometimes a pure batting track. They all test different skills and abilities. Sometimes there'll be crack where the ball spits, in other time it swings like a demon. And it means one team will be better at that type of track than the other. Tough cookies - get better, or retire and play ODIs.

It would be a shame if pitches lost that. If this was crap limited overs "cricket", where you just need to plant your front foot down, close your eyes, and stroke away to centuries, maybe those types of pitches would be bad.

Not here. Bring on the pitches where 110 is a par score, and where 400 is a par score. As long as it's a pitch where there is a result more times than not, it's what Test cricket is about.

If we played a series in India where every pitch was the one at Kanpur, and then went to New Zealand where every pitch was like the ones in 2002, I'd consider that an excellent season of cricket. Maybe with a few early season English/SA pitches thrown in for good measure.

 

[Sir Alex]

Sachin Tendulkar displayed so sublime batsmanship. I am happy to see him get his 43rd test century. I am also glad that Sachin and Ponting the two modern masters are giving each other healthy competition. The gap between them is 1 year and half, 1500 runs and 5 100s.

 

[Shri]

Of pitches and prejudice | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com

Of pitches and prejudice
Why is the ICC suddenly scrutinising the pitches?
Dileep Premachandran
December 27, 2005


The Test matches at Delhi and Ahmedabad produced some gripping cricket - fabulous batting, incisive spells of seam bowling, spin at its best and two fifth-day results. On the surface, there was enough and more to keep the spectators happy. Why, then, is the ICC suddenly scrutinising the pitches?

An Indian Express report suggests that match officials, headed by match referee Clive Lloyd, have prepared a report slamming the quality of the two strips used. Having reportedly called the Motera surface a dust-heap when he led the West Indies to India 22 years ago, Lloyd was allegedly no more complimentary this time. The Express report went on to suggest that Lloyd had asked for a probe from an ICC-appointed pitch inspector, most likely from Australia or New Zealand.

While there's no doubt that an unusually severe winter in northern India hampered preparations, the BCCI rotation policy with respect to venues is such that the northern region - Ahmedabad in the west was nearly as cold as Delhi - can't be completely ignored when drawing up a schedule. And despite the lack of time that the curator had in Ahmedabad, to suggest that the pitch was a dustbowl borders on the ridiculous.

It might be worthwhile to revisit a few facts that cast doubts over Lloyd's judgement. At Delhi, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman batted beautifully on the opening day, before Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene carried on in similar vein on day two. And then, on a supposedly crumbling pitch, Irfan Pathan played a magnificent innings that few who watched it will ever forget. So much for batting being impossible.

Pathan also bowled a superb spell in the Sri Lankan first innings, just as Chaminda Vaas produced fine bursts when India batted. So we can only conclude then that the allegations about a sub-standard pitch had something to do with Anil Kumble taking 10 wickets, and Muttiah Muralitharan eight.

The raging-turner theory falls flat though when you consider that Harbhajan Singh - who was to come into his own at Ahmedabad - picked up only one wicket in the Sri Lankan first innings, the same number that Murali managed in the second innings. That the majority of wickets went to spinners was merely testament to the outstanding quality of the bowling on display. Murali's spell on the second morning was as good as any ever seen on Indian soil, and Kumble's perseverance and poise later that afternoon nearly matched it. Dodgy pitch? How about great bowling?

Ahmedabad was little different. Laxman and Pathan produced splendid innings when India were under the cosh on day one, and their feats were replicated by Yuvraj Singh at the second time of asking. For Sri Lanka, both Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan -twice - produced innings of substance. There was some spirited new-ball bowling from Lasith Malinga, and some fine work with the old one from Ajit Agarkar. Yet again though, the wickets went mainly to the slow bowlers - 10 for Harbhajan, seven for Kumble, and six for Murali.

But so what? Does a pitch become dubious only when slow bowlers take wickets? If so, the SCG has been on sticky ground for over a century, with even Allan Border and Bob Holland scripting match-winning spells. And what of Lloyd's former Caribbean stomping grounds? There was a time when every Sabina Park game should have been played with the statutory warning: Injurious to batsmen's health.

As for Antigua - where West Indies have piled up 751 and 747, and chased down 418 over the past three seasons - and Guyana, 17 draws in 30 matches played, perhaps some dynamite is needed to prevent bowlers from falling asleep on a thankless job. And while we're at it, the ICC could perhaps investigate the mysterious case of the WACA, that former fast-bowling paradise where South Africa comfortably defied the world's best bowling line-up for nearly five sessions.

The reality is that the Delhi and Ahmedabad surfaces were no worse than many others prepared around the world. Perhaps the sight of slow bowlers taking so many wickets was an eyesore for a man who hardly ever included one in his side, but there was nothing sinister at work. Unlike the early '90s, when designer crumblers were the norm, Indian pitches these days involve plenty of hard work for the spinners too. There may have been the odd exception, like the Mumbai special that defeated Australia last year, but that was certainly no more diabolical than the two trampolines that New Zealand dished out on India's last tour there - Hamilton saw first innings scores of 99 and 94.

Rather than celebrate the distinct nature of pitches in different parts of the world, this latest episode seems to suggest a yearning for uniformity and blandness that does the game no good at all. Ball may certainly have dominated bat in the two India-Sri Lanka Tests played to a finish, but in a batsman-dominated world, that was something to celebrate, not condemn. Hopefully, the ICC will see sense, send the alleged report to the dustbin where it belongs, and focus on issues that matter - like dodgy actions and Zimbabwe.

Who should be blamed here?

 

[JBH001]

Its a second innings century, so it HAS to be more valuable than a first innings one!

Good to see that being put into context.

And yes, thank **** thats over.