Sydney pitch vs Hobart pitch

[Mkcaptain]

I would be very interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on this. I personally loved the one prepared in Hobart. While Clarke's triple hundred was great I'm not one who enjoys seeing a team bat for 2 days. While their has been a bit for the ball this test I generally prefer it when the bowlers are on top (from either team).

I might be being unfair on the SCG wicket and poor field settings and poor bowing have been huge contributors just like bad batting played a huge part in Hobart. I've just found Hobart to be the more exciting match

 

[The Passenger]

the SCG wicket has turned out pretty flat, but it's also worth noting the indian's absolutely packed it in with the ball late on day 2, and weren't much better on day 3.

whilst i don't think we've given up at all we haven;t bowled particularly well in this second innings.

the hobart pitch was just a touch on the green side but i'd prefer it there than on the other side. and if you throw more of these pitches bastmen will adjust. part of the problem is that batsmen hardly get confronted with these wickets so when they do they often just crumble apart.

 

[Glacier]

Agreed, I can't stand it when a flat road like Sydney obviously is , is described as a great pitch. Personally I think it causes huge problems in that when sides get to difficult wickets, batsmen are found wanting( 47 all out !!)
At this level, batsmen of the quality in these two sides would be expected to make huge scores, but does it help in the long run ? I think not.
I would much rather be absorbed in a test where there is swing and / or spin/ or seam so that flat trackers are found out and the best still make runs and also young stars with both bat and ball are found.
Also we might have kids willing to take up spin if they know the pitches give them a chance !

 

[aussierulesrules]

I think both pitches were/are a bit extreme in either direction and a balance between the two would be the ideal test match pitch. A bit less grass in Tassie and a bit more here.
I was enthralled with pretty much all of the first 3 tests of the summer and didn't really want to miss a minute, but I've hardly bothered to watch any of the last couple of days, as I'd rather watch the highlights package later at night (where I can see 6 hours worth of good strokes, with little danger of a wicket falling, in just two hours) and just come in when it's time to get their hundreds 150's, 300's, etc.

 

[The Passenger]

a couple of people out at the ground on day one said the day before the SCG pitch was barely distinguishable from outfield, so obviously the curator give it a big mow that day/night.

 

[Underarm]

if we get a result, that doesnt include India batting for so long that they declare/australia have to score at 5 an over to end the test match I think its a great pitch.

 

[Glacier]

if we get a result, that doesnt include India batting for so long that they declare/australia have to score at 5 an over to end the test match I think its a great pitch.

Aussie blinkers off for a minute mate !!

 

[aussierulesrules]

It may also unfortunately cost us all the chance of seeing Patto bowling at the WACA, too, which could have been a great highlight of the summer, as there's every chance they won't want him to play another test on the back of all the bowling he'll do here, plus playing 3 tests in fairly quick succession before that. Hopefully they'll manage him really well and get this done quickly somehow.

 

[Slax]

It's a bit of a shame that the Sydney pitch seems to of flattened out a bit in the last few years, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

As for Hobart whilst the match finished quickly it was great to see a pitch which clearly favoured the bowlers. Admittedly though the groundstaff didn't have the best of weather leading up to the test and the pitch was always going to be a bit underdone.

One of the great things about Australian cricket is that in each major ground the pitch is different.

 

[Tapee]

Bellerive will be the best cricket pitch of the summer, unfortunately the curator copped a lot of unwarranted flack for it.

Roads make for boring matches, however they're more likely to go 5 days (increased revenue), provide more exciting scorecards for the masses (big scores!) and suit the Australian batsmen so ultimately it makes some sense.

Shame though.

One of the great things about Australian cricket is that in each major ground the pitch is different.

Not by as much as they once were.

 

[The Passenger]

obviously the aim is to have the game finish some stage on day five. it can be a pretty fine line and you don't have to go much either side with your preperation to produce a wicket way too tough or easy for batting.

Bellerive will be the best cricket pitch of the summer, unfortunately the curator copped a lot of unwarranted flack for it.

in some circles there was some critiscim but by and large most of what i read was very positive towards it...

 

[CAS79]

Why is this is a competition.

Cant we embrace the differences in our pitches around the country.

Frankly Hobart was green but better techniques would have seem it more playable. Better bowling may have seen less runs on day 2 and 3 at the SCG.

The pitches around Australia have their own characteristics and each and every one of them should be celebrated for what they are and the different challenges they set.

 

[Bucking Beads]

We can't and shouldn't have wickets all the same. The SCG is normally like this but tends to break up and spin a bit more. It is all about variety, we can't have all pitches the same.

 

[aussierulesrules]

It's not necessarily a "competition" (although the thread title doesn't help that) but just a question as to what sort of pitch everyone prefers. I was wondering how long it would take for someone from Sydney to come here and take it badly and it didn't take long and wasn't a surprise who got here first.
Those from Sydney who are ultra-sensitive would probably be best avoiding this thread, or it will turn into another bitch-fest and lead to account suspensions.

 

[Tassieboy]

Hobart would have been perfect if it wasn't for the overcast conditions.

 

[Underarm]

Aussie blinkers off for a minute mate !!

not what I meant, just don't want this game to be like the Windies/India match where the match did nothing for 4 days and then it went nuts on the last day. A result on the 5th day doesnt make it a good pitch if batsmen have to play One day mode just to try and get a result (and if that were to happen, my money would be on India)

 

[legend166]

There's a place for both pitches. The idea that there is one perfect pitch is silly. There's nothing inherently wrong with a batsman friendly pitch. The problem over the last 10 years or so is that the balance was heavily shifted so there were way more batsman friendly pitches and anything that helped the bowlers was considered a bad pitch. As long as the pitch isn't a complete road with no bounce or carry, it's all good.

Variety is what's needed.

 

[mattymac]

yeah boring pitch. one of those ones where you don't mind doing stuff in the middle overs then sit down to watch the new ball

 

[Mkcaptain]

Thanks for the responses. I'd agree that the thread title probably isn't the best.

 

[Bomber Bears]

It's a bit of a shame that the Sydney pitch seems to of flattened out a bit in the last few years, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

As for Hobart whilst the match finished quickly it was great to see a pitch which clearly favoured the bowlers. Admittedly though the groundstaff didn't have the best of weather leading up to the test and the pitch was always going to be a bit underdone.

One of the great things about Australian cricket is that in each major ground the pitch is different.

Before this year the pitches have been far from flat at the SCG, at least early, see Pakistan test and Ashes test last year.

Although in the shield this season they've been green as anything the first couple of days and flatenned out afterwards. Might be the stupid amount of rain we've had the last few summers seeing basically day 1-2 pitches on day 3-4.

I thought this years was a bit flat, although as pointed out India had basically given up early day two with their bowling and field settings. Australia still managed to run through India twice.

Pitch was starting to have variable bounce today and would've broken up further tomorrow I suspect, whether or not either spinner would've been good enough to exploit that I dont know.

 

[sherb]

Hobart would have been perfect if it wasn't for the overcast conditions.

The Hobart pitch had consistent (and not excessive) bounce and it certainly didn't spit balls off a length.

It seamed a little, but not an awful lot. There was some swing, but nothing excessive.

All we saw from the Hobart pitch was how the modern batsman cannot cope with conditions which aren't totally in their favour. Instead we saw suspect techniques and an even worse mental approach on their part.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Over the four days in Sydney, Australia took 20 wickets. India took 4, and I don't think they can blame the pitch for that.

 

[KiwiRoo]

The Hobart pitch had consistent (and not excessive) bounce and it certainly didn't spit balls off a length.

It seamed a little, but not an awful lot. There was some swing, but nothing excessive.

All we saw from the Hobart pitch was how the modern batsman cannot cope with conditions which aren't totally in their favour. Instead we saw suspect techniques and an even worse mental approach on their part.

I think you're being a bit tough on the batsmen.It did plenty the first 2 days.
Sure some of the techniques werent great, but even Boycott would've struggled on it.
the pitch at melbourne was a good cricket wicket..wasnt unplayable, but kept both the bowlers and the batsmen interested

 

[BarneyBent]

Over the four days in Sydney, Australia took 20 wickets. India took 4, and I don't think they can blame the pitch for that.

This. Australia proved that if you bowled well on that pitch, you could take wickets. Even when they bowled on the very same day that Clarke passed three figures, they looked a million times more threatening.

The SCG wasn't a road. Sure, it favored the batsmen more than the Bellerive pitch did, but it wasn't bad. Keep in mind that the game was all over in four days. Ponting, Clarke and Hussey just broke the Indian bowlers.