A Cricket Pitch: The "Decider"
The
recently concluded cricket series between India and South Africa has produced
some resilient performances from both sides. Though the Indian side won the
series 3-0 the South African have several positives to take back from this
tour. The tour rekindled the long standing debate – the importance of the
cricket pitch. Perhaps there is no other sport where the performance of the players
is affected significantly with change in the battleground. This is certainly
attributed to the nature of the sport where the cricketing pitch is involved in
every ball bowled. Tennis is probably one other sport where there are
specialists for each surface.
Cricketing
pitches vary across continents. The 22 yards favour swing in Australia, pace
and bounce in South Africa and spin in the subcontinent as we’ve seen in the
last series. In addition to their inherent nature weather patterns could
slightly alter their nature. Pitch preparation which is taken care by the
ground staff prepare pitches which help their players. In such a scenario, it
is not surprising that a home grown player performs well in the battleground he
knows well and struggles to find his rhythm when he travels overseas. In
addition, climate also disturbs his performance when travels to a new country.
Would it be
right to say that only the performance outside his home turf matters since his
record in home is nothing special? Such cases warrant considering other factors
into account. Physical fitness, his form, his shot selection to umpiring
decisions could prevent a player in exhibiting his best even when he is one the
home turf. Hence dismissing home performances would be an unfair conclusion
since a player may not be in his peach to deliver every game he plays. But home
conditions do guarantee that a player will have higher chances of success. Grounds
and conditions which shaped the player aided with support of his fans are bound
to create a psychological impact to face critical situations which are
pertinently lacking overseas.
(Pitch Preparation - Photo courtesy: Judy Dean)
Domination
of batsmen has risen considerably in the last decade. Scores of 300 and above
which were considered insurmountable have now become average. For bettering
crowd entertainment, shorter boundaries, heavier bats and power plays with
mandatory field restrictions became the order of the day. Worse has been the
ascent of T20 cricket which has taken a toll on specialists bowlers. In this
scenario, the series has shown a way to revive Test cricket if bowling pitches
were the order of the day.
Time has
become the most important commodity in today’s world and the success of T20
cricket proves it. A test match does bring about true champions and breeds
resilience among teams. This was evident in the way Rahane and Amla played in
the third test. But the cricketing world must recognise that a match which is
played for five days is not the right direction to popularize the sport.
If Test
cricket is to survive we need bowler friendly tracks which can shorten the
playing time. Such pitches would also serve as an antidote to the bowler’s sufferings
faced in the other formats. The battleground should serve both the bowler and
the batsmen well. Wonderful would it be if it chose to favour the bowlers who
have not tasted much success in the shorter formats. After all, the pitch does
have the ability to decide the future of Test cricket.
Photo courtesy:
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