"The ideal scenario is a pitch which offers something for the quick bowlers to start with, flattens out and then spins later in the match, not from the very start."
Which ground/country even provides this, Southampton when the sun is out? South Africa? Let's only play tests there then!
IMO, a definition of a good test pitch is one that produces a result doesnt matter in 1 day or 5 days. We know conditions and surfaces do differ from country to country and fast bowlers have to toil in India, bumrah was saying saliva ban meant no easy reverse swing, so that makes it harder for quality fast bowlers but you saw what difference pace can make with Jofra, think back Shoiab Akthar in calcutta turning the match getting Sachin and dravid off successive balls to turn the match
To me an e.g. of a bad test pitch is one I remember when jayasuriya and mahanama batted for days for 300 and 200 i think and India replied with some 100s of their own. No result possible even with murali playing.
In the past teams who have come to India have won toss and batted first but haven't been able to make this kind of batting impression, so huge credit to Root, he in is super form and they had 2 practice matches in similar conditions in SL and India coming back to adjust after their euphoria in Aus.
India did get selection wrong, I would have played Kuldeep instead of Sundar. India have never been afraid to go with just 6 batsmen in India, I think next match they will make that change.
I remember the 2017 Pune game, a raging turner and AUS got about 260 and India got rolled over for 100 odd in first inn and in the second inn AUS got to 285 then rolled over IND for 100 odd. Back then IND did not bat well enough in the first inn and here, ENG did just the same. If KL Rahul could score 64 odd runs and Foakes could manage to hang with a steady 40, then surely the pitches (raging tuners) aren't that bad as they are made out to be.
P.S - Who wouldn't want action happening every other ball, its absolutely gripping stuff.
I had seen the definition of a sporting wicket somewhere in ICC regulations, where it supports seam bowling on day one, batting on two and three and spin on day 4 and 5 - i don't think that's possible though in all conditions in the world! In New Zealand the pitch was similar colour as the grass around it and there weren't Complaints about that, where was the support for spin there!
We go to England/ Australia and we get green top so what’s the harm in having spinning wicket in India?... Deal with it like a grown up man rather crying like a kid Why so much of hue and cry!
I think a bad pitch is one which changes so drastically from the 1st day to the 3rd-4th day that the team batting first and team batting second are playing on entirely different conditions.
This is why i think the first test pitch was worse. When root hit his double ton , the pitch was an absoulute flat road , but when india came in to bat, it was much tougher.
The second pitch was a huge turner, but atleast it was a turner from day one itself. It was nowhere as drastically different for team batting second as the first pitch was.
I know many people say it should be a fair contest between bat and ball. I think it should be a fair contest between team batting 1st and 2nd. Winning the toss should not give a huge advantage . Some pitches will skew the contest between bat and ball. That should be acceptable. As long as it does not skew it in favour of the toss winning side too much
Indians will always prepare turning or rank turning pitches. That is the prerogative of host nation. England will have to prepare well for this. More over what the monumental mistake made by every visiting team is playing 2 or 3 Spinners but the quality of Spinners other than subcontinent is not great. They do produce wicket taking deliveries due to vagaries of the pitch and bounce shall we say lack of it. England should have ideally played Woakes a wonderful exponent of swing bowling though it may not be prodigious swing at least he will be able to control and tighten the problem with English Spinners they dishout long hops and full tosses resulting in boundary balls in each and every over a one day Specialist like Rohit by instinct attacking player will capitalise on that and score 10 boundaries in a session and it translates to minimum 40 runs this is what happened. England need to look at this try to assign more role to English fast bowlers can't play Broady if your not going to get the best out of him you may very well opt a batsman spinner should not be in the sake of being a spinner
Its not just about pitches its all are about maintaining balance if toss becomes crucial factor its becomes to lopsided. Also the game ending in three to four days makes test boring . argument can't be compared with Australia and England. England organized well balanced ashes which is evenly fought as well as recent Australia series which went to fifth days. Such pitch in chennai in second test will kill the test spirit.
The Asian teams have produced far more great pacers than the SENA countries have produced spinners which says how one dimensional their
game is.
This write-up in itself is a nice pitch that should entice readers :) Very Nice!
Omg Jonathan agnew:
"The ideal scenario is a pitch which offers something for the quick bowlers to start with, flattens out and then spins later in the match, not from the very start."
Which ground/country even provides this, Southampton when the sun is out? South Africa? Let's only play tests there then!
Regarding the 1st test that England won,
IMO, a definition of a good test pitch is one that produces a result doesnt matter in 1 day or 5 days. We know conditions and surfaces do differ from country to country and fast bowlers have to toil in India, bumrah was saying saliva ban meant no easy reverse swing, so that makes it harder for quality fast bowlers but you saw what difference pace can make with Jofra, think back Shoiab Akthar in calcutta turning the match getting Sachin and dravid off successive balls to turn the match
To me an e.g. of a bad test pitch is one I remember when jayasuriya and mahanama batted for days for 300 and 200 i think and India replied with some 100s of their own. No result possible even with murali playing.
In the past teams who have come to India have won toss and batted first but haven't been able to make this kind of batting impression, so huge credit to Root, he in is super form and they had 2 practice matches in similar conditions in SL and India coming back to adjust after their euphoria in Aus.
India did get selection wrong, I would have played Kuldeep instead of Sundar. India have never been afraid to go with just 6 batsmen in India, I think next match they will make that change.
I remember the 2017 Pune game, a raging turner and AUS got about 260 and India got rolled over for 100 odd in first inn and in the second inn AUS got to 285 then rolled over IND for 100 odd. Back then IND did not bat well enough in the first inn and here, ENG did just the same. If KL Rahul could score 64 odd runs and Foakes could manage to hang with a steady 40, then surely the pitches (raging tuners) aren't that bad as they are made out to be.
P.S - Who wouldn't want action happening every other ball, its absolutely gripping stuff.
What a wonderful writeup, Jarrod. :)
Thanks for putting perspective to the issue by numbers and trivia.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that it will spin in India. And sometimes a lot more than normal.
From
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pulse-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/ICC/document/2017/02/16/c5cb7046-18b0-4213-989e-c6c556461f2a/Pitch_Monitoring_Process_Effective_October_2010.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwihseH4wunuAhU34nMBHY4VDcoQFjAOegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw3M09FrPKrdzv1UwvaboflJ
Very Good
Good carry, limited seam movement and consistent bounce throughout, little or no turn on the first two days but
natural wear sufficient to be responsive to spin later in the game.
Good
Average carry, limited seam movement, consistent bounce throughout, natural wear sufficient to be responsive to
spin later in the game, though not quite meeting the criteria for carry and bounce for a “very good” pitch.
Above Average
Lacks carry, and/or bounce and/or occasional seam movement, but consistent in carry and bounce. A degree of
turn, but with average bounce for the spinner. Falling significantly short of “very good” with respect to carry,
bounce and turn.
Below Average
Either very little carry and/or bounce and/or more than occasional seam movement, or occasional variable (but
not excessive or dangerous) bounce and/or occasional variable carry. If a pitch demonstrates these features, then
the pitch can not be rated in a higher category regardless of the amount of turn the pitch displays at any stage of
the match.
Poor
If any of the following criteria apply, a pitch may be rated “poor”:
a. The pitch offers excessive seam movement at any stage of the match
b. The pitch displays excessive unevenness of bounce for any bowler at any stage of the match
c. The pitch offers excessive assistance to spin bowlers, especially early in the match
d. The pitch displays little or no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match together with no
significant bounce or carry, thereby depriving the bowlers of a fair contest between bat and ball.
I had seen the definition of a sporting wicket somewhere in ICC regulations, where it supports seam bowling on day one, batting on two and three and spin on day 4 and 5 - i don't think that's possible though in all conditions in the world! In New Zealand the pitch was similar colour as the grass around it and there weren't Complaints about that, where was the support for spin there!
We go to England/ Australia and we get green top so what’s the harm in having spinning wicket in India?... Deal with it like a grown up man rather crying like a kid Why so much of hue and cry!
I think a bad pitch is one which changes so drastically from the 1st day to the 3rd-4th day that the team batting first and team batting second are playing on entirely different conditions.
This is why i think the first test pitch was worse. When root hit his double ton , the pitch was an absoulute flat road , but when india came in to bat, it was much tougher.
The second pitch was a huge turner, but atleast it was a turner from day one itself. It was nowhere as drastically different for team batting second as the first pitch was.
I know many people say it should be a fair contest between bat and ball. I think it should be a fair contest between team batting 1st and 2nd. Winning the toss should not give a huge advantage . Some pitches will skew the contest between bat and ball. That should be acceptable. As long as it does not skew it in favour of the toss winning side too much
Indians will always prepare turning or rank turning pitches. That is the prerogative of host nation. England will have to prepare well for this. More over what the monumental mistake made by every visiting team is playing 2 or 3 Spinners but the quality of Spinners other than subcontinent is not great. They do produce wicket taking deliveries due to vagaries of the pitch and bounce shall we say lack of it. England should have ideally played Woakes a wonderful exponent of swing bowling though it may not be prodigious swing at least he will be able to control and tighten the problem with English Spinners they dishout long hops and full tosses resulting in boundary balls in each and every over a one day Specialist like Rohit by instinct attacking player will capitalise on that and score 10 boundaries in a session and it translates to minimum 40 runs this is what happened. England need to look at this try to assign more role to English fast bowlers can't play Broady if your not going to get the best out of him you may very well opt a batsman spinner should not be in the sake of being a spinner
Its not just about pitches its all are about maintaining balance if toss becomes crucial factor its becomes to lopsided. Also the game ending in three to four days makes test boring . argument can't be compared with Australia and England. England organized well balanced ashes which is evenly fought as well as recent Australia series which went to fifth days. Such pitch in chennai in second test will kill the test spirit.
ICC means Indian Cricket Council