The International Cricket Council (ICC) must
get its act-together otherwise, the game which we love and respect so much
starts to lose credibility.
One
look at the truck loads of runs Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, are piling on, the
admirer, the passionate supporter and the fan of cricket in me falls short of
words for the praise their feat richly deserves. Virat Kohli’s five double
hundreds in a calendar year the highest by any captain and the ease by which
Steve Smith keep scoring big and important runs in the ongoing 2017, Ashes (incidentally,
at the time of writing this article, the third test at Perth is in progress,
and Smith is 200+ not out overnight) compels me think, about the level these
two players have already reached, and my mind immediately starts to compare
them with game’s best of all time like Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. I
know that it is a folly to compare greats of different generations, as those
times were different, so are the present times. My idea behind writing this
article is to point out the systematic decline of the quality of pitches all
over the cricket playing nations.
There
used to a time when countries prepared pitches according to their strengths as
well as keeping the oppositions weakness into consideration, bear in mind that
neither am I propagating blatant spin friendly dust balls, nor am I in support
of lush green gardens that heavily favors seam and swing bowlers, because both
of the situation support one more than the other, i.e. ball more than the bat. For
the game of cricket to be both thrilling as well as on an even keel sporting
pitches were prepared, where batsmen prepared themselves according to the
conditions which they were supposed to encounter, like by perfecting their
sweep short to counter spin friendly pitches, or by sweating out in the nets in
correcting the art of leaving the ball as late as possible.
I
don’t know for where, but I believe that the notion that public only wants to
see fours and sixes, was one of the major contributor that led to the decline
of the quality of pitches. Before that notion became popular, most of the pitches
around the world were known by their distinct nature. Australian pitches
favored fast bowlers due to the amount of bounce the bowlers generated, Perth,
was considered as the quickest pitch in the world, having said that they also
had Sydney; a spin friendly wicket. England pitches prompted swing as in the
beginning of the season the humid weather helped swing bowling, while later on
in the season the pitches eased into good batting wickets in accordance with
the change in weather. Similarly, Indian pitches favored spinners more than
the seam bowlers, whereas Pakistan pitches also supported spin, but they had
prepared pitches that help in quick roughing of the ball which helped in
reverse-swing; an art first perfected by the Pakistani fast bowlers. The New
Zealand pitches were somewhat similar to England wickets, and the South African
pitches resembled the Australian wickets with more lateral moment and less
bounce. West Indies used to have one of the fastest wickets in the world, but
now some of their pitches have become two paced which are neither helpful for
the batsman nor the bowler. Like their neighbors of the sub-continent
Bangladesh also favored spin friendly pitches, where as Zimbabwean wickets
were similar to South Africa but with spongy bounce. Sadly, only past memories
are left, and what we see today are rock hard blocks which are called pitches
on which any batsman worth his salt has only to plonk his foot down and swing
through the line, and on most instances the ball will clear the rope, or worse
a four.
It is
an incorrect view that only four and sixes entertain the crowds, which any true
cricket fan like me will concur with, but ICC maybe in their ignorance or due
to their financial interest keep dishing out batting beauties one after the
other where only the venue changes, but the most important element of the
cricket game, those 22 yards remains the same always.
I am
in no shape or form degrading the exploits of Virat Kohli or Steve Smith, or
for that matter the other two that combine together to form the recent famous
fabulous four; David Warner and Kane Williamson, these two have fallen behind
somewhat recently. Because, you can be as good as the opposition as well as
situation allows you to be, and it is not Virat or Smith’s fault that they are
so good that they have surpassed the competition.
It is
high time that ICC takes a stand and bring the game back to the stage where
there is a healthy rivalry between the bat and the ball.
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