Ashes pitches

[WIZARD24]

Was just on the Cricket australia website checking out the info on the womens first one day match and it has a photo of the pitch... Wow a real english pitch please ECB stop doctoring pitches

 

[Pera]

Australia did it last summer as well. It's a problem all over the world at the moment, and it's probably the biggest killer of test cricket in terms of excitement. I love wickets, 500+ stuff is just rubbish.

 

[Cupid Stunt]

Maximisation of revenue has become the law. People are seeing $ before they see any sense and it's the viewer/crowd that suffer as a result

 

[JackOutback]

Australia did it last summer as well. It's a problem all over the world at the moment, and it's probably the biggest killer of test cricket in terms of excitement. I love wickets, 500+ stuff is just rubbish.

I think, in general, Australia do it the least. The nature of our main pitches is well known and rarely changes too much. England usually somewhere in the middle, but went a bit too far this year and hurt the chances of their own bowlers. Karma, I guess.

 

[Pera]

I think, in general, Australia do it the least. The nature of our main pitches is well known and rarely changes too much. England usually somewhere in the middle, but went a bit too far this year and hurt the chances of their own bowlers. Karma, I guess.

South Africa do it the least. Australia have become one of the worst. Nearly every single pitch that had their own tradition and uniqueness has gone completely out the window.

 

[gbatman]

Lords pitch looked a lot like Adelaide except with a Dukes ball there was the expected swing still. Not a bad pitch but one that asked more of the bowlers. It still swung, bounced if you were good enough and it cut. There was a little but not a lot of turn.

Problem for England doctoring pitches is...

Their bowlers aren't real quick so flat wickets like the lords one, they are going to be easy pickings as they aren't able to extract anything out of the wickets like Johnson who is quick and has a difficult action and Starc who is quick and tall and Hazelwood who is tall. Broad is ok but not real fast or intimidating especially for us. Wood isn't real tall and didn't bowl quick. Anderson is slow and a one trick pony (swing) and was easily intimidated into bowling too short and wide by poor fields and out aggressive batting, we easily picked his swing. England are scared to bowl full and straight, scared of being driven and scared of giving a few boundaries away. Their bowling tactics, captaincy, fields, strategy etc was rubbish. Flat wickets over there you must strike with the new ball. Hell, you must try and take wickets with the new ball regardless.

England could make dry turning subcontinental wickets but I doubt they have the spinners. Ali isn't a front line spinner. We still have the better spinners and our quicks will extract more out of those sort of decks than theirs. They aren't India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka who have a heap of quality spin bowlers and batsmen accustomed to those conditions to chose from.

England are better off creating lively green wickets that improve with age but really zip around day 1. Australia find it very difficult to not bowl first. England could chose to bowl first. They are better off rolling the dice as their bowlers aren't quick and need conditions that will give them all the help they can get. They have had no trouble beating us in the past with classic English wickets, why change it.

Let them doctor their wickets to be Mitchell Johnson proof and it'll be Broad/Wood/Anderson proof more so.

 

[gbatman]

The only Australian wicket that has lost it's character is Sydney. Adelaide has always been a road. The WACA has always been a really hard deck that cracks open. Brisbane has always been a good and slightly green wicket. Melbourne has been disappointing of recent times. I miss a SCG wicket that used to really spin and we'd always look to pick two spinners. Traditionally, if it offers plenty for the quicks, bounces and offers something for the spinners later in the game it's a good Aussie wicket. I think if a team get what they are expecting you can hardly call it doctoring. India and Pakistan series have had some overly dry/grassless wickets at times. West Indies wickets are disappointing. It's hard to imagine a place that used to churn out super star fast bowlers now produces grassless wickets more suited to spin. South African wickets are very similar to home, they produce very good wickets that offer plenty for the bowlers and batsmen and matches played there are often good to watch.

 

[Demosthenes]

South Africa do it the least. Australia have become one of the worst. Nearly every single pitch that had their own tradition and uniqueness has gone completely out the window.

Australia's pitches have gone downhill in a big way, but it's got more to do with the increasing prevalence of shitty drop-ins than pitch doctoring. It's no coincidence that Adelaide and Melbourne are the worst pitches in the country. Bellrieve, the Gabba and the WACA are all fine pitches. Sydney is probably the only permanent pitch that's gone bad in recent years. It would be nice to see them go back to preparing a real spinning deck, and maybe now that Lyon's a bit more of a matchwinner they will do so.

With Adelaide going to the dark side, the WACA looking like it will be bulldozed, and the AFL putting pressure on the Gabba, drop-ins are a huge threat to Test cricket in Australia. It's a joke that we don't even have a proper Test wicket at Australia's supposed home of cricket - the MCC need to get some balls and stand up to the footy lobby.

 

[carnthemlions]

Australia did it last summer as well. It's a problem all over the world at the moment, and it's probably the biggest killer of test cricket in terms of excitement. I love wickets, 500+ stuff is just rubbish.

I wouldn't really call that doctoring wickets to favour the home team, though.

 

[the_interloper]

If we want to stop pitch doctoring, why not just have drop in pitches all over the world? That way all pitches are the same, wouldn't this be great? No. As long as pitches aren't producing draws I think it's up to the home team how to prepare it, all good teams should be able to win in any conditions anyway.

 

[gbatman]

I've got a theory with Sydney's pitch and it all stems back to Aussie Rules Footy. Back in the 90's before massive dollars was spent of the surfaces of grounds and turf was regularly replaced, you look at an aerial shot of footy grounds and the wear was right up the middle of the ground because that's where the most traffic was. Now AFL teams play wider and go around the wings and really, outside of the center bounce there is very little play where the football goes through where the wicket square is. Back in the 90's in the middle of winter the SCG wicket area would become a real mudpit now days this happens rarely. Surely this would have a massive effect on the wicket.

The greatest thing about test cricket is wickets with character. ODI and more so T20 wickets are so flat and boring. I don't mind Adelaide it is flat but there's always a bit there if you are good enough.

All the talk about bat size being a problem in cricket and the game going in favor of the batsmen. The best way to even that out is to make wickets that do a bit.

 

[JackOutback]

The only Australian wicket that has lost it's character is Sydney. Adelaide has always been a road. The WACA has always been a really hard deck that cracks open. Brisbane has always been a good and slightly green wicket. Melbourne has been disappointing of recent times. I miss a SCG wicket that used to really spin and we'd always look to pick two spinners. Traditionally, if it offers plenty for the quicks, bounces and offers something for the spinners later in the game it's a good Aussie wicket. I think if a team get what they are expecting you can hardly call it doctoring. India and Pakistan series have had some overly dry/grassless wickets at times. West Indies wickets are disappointing. It's hard to imagine a place that used to churn out super star fast bowlers now produces grassless wickets more suited to spin. South African wickets are very similar to home, they produce very good wickets that offer plenty for the bowlers and batsmen and matches played there are often good to watch.

I agree, most Australian pitches still have roughly the same characteristics, with the exception of Sydney, I would love to see it return to the late spinning pitch because then we would have a real variety of pitches during a five Test series.

 

[The_Reaper]

all the Australian wickets are pretty flat to be honest and it goes back to McGrath/Warne and CA wanting tests to last as long as possible.

The wickets we serve up to the Windies are going to be the flattest wickets in existence.

 

[Power Raid]

The only Australian wicket that has lost it's character is Sydney. Adelaide has always been a road. The WACA has always been a really hard deck that cracks open. Brisbane has always been a good and slightly green wicket. Melbourne has been disappointing of recent times. I miss a SCG wicket that used to really spin and we'd always look to pick two spinners. Traditionally, if it offers plenty for the quicks, bounces and offers something for the spinners later in the game it's a good Aussie wicket. I think if a team get what they are expecting you can hardly call it doctoring. India and Pakistan series have had some overly dry/grassless wickets at times. West Indies wickets are disappointing. It's hard to imagine a place that used to churn out super star fast bowlers now produces grassless wickets more suited to spin. South African wickets are very similar to home, they produce very good wickets that offer plenty for the bowlers and batsmen and matches played there are often good to watch.

spot on

I must admit I have never liked watching test at Adelaide. Perhaps the stats will prove me wrong but I feel the team batting first has a much greater advantage than the rest of Oz.

 

[Hellgood]

If we want to stop pitch doctoring, why not just have drop in pitches all over the world? That way all pitches are the same, wouldn't this be great? No. As long as pitches aren't producing draws I think it's up to the home team how to prepare it, all good teams should be able to win in any conditions anyway.

Yeah this pretty much is in line with my thoughts.

Don't have a problem for home teams trying to maximise their advantage - there's no way of policing it and it's a pretty standard part of the game at all levels. Kind of adds a bit of a fun narrative as the visiting team bitches and moans and either rises to the challenge or capitulates to much amusement.

What I do have a problem is, is flattening pitches for revenue maximisation. Such a short sighted view putting people off the game.

 

[The Swans Blog]

No point in bitching about doctored pitches. Our pitches in the last 2 home test series were shameful roads that gave almost nothing to bowlers, especially against India. They were set up to extract maximum impact from Johnson and Starc and they did just that. Johnson and Smith absolutely dominated the series and England were annihilated. It stands to reason that they're going to counter him as much as possible, but no doubt they're going to **** up along the way.

 

[Wallaby]

I like one idea proposed - let the home team doctor the pitch however they want, but the visitors get to choose whether to bat or bowl.

I like it for a few reasons:

1. It brings in pitch-doctoring as a real strategy.
2. It gives the away team a slight advantage (in one area).
3. I can't think of anymore........

Could be fun.............................

 

[the_interloper]

I think somehow the ICC should guarantee revenue to the home cricket board for each Test, regardless of game length. This would ensure that the groundsman isn't pressured to produce a pitch that will make the game last 5 days. Not sure on the specifics on this should work but the incentive to produce draw pitches needs to be removed.