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Cricket XIX - Australian Hundreds and Other Myths


Stubby

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Yeah -- can you guys explain that a bit more? (remember: n00b)

The pitch today is basically flat, right? But it (uncharacteristically for this ground) doesn't have a lot of bounce?

I was listening to Holding grumble about the selection of Swann and Anderson because of conditions on the pitch -- shitty because Swann isn't going to be very useful on it, and Anderson will be bowling 6s? Is he claiming that England should have gone with all fast/swing bowlers?

I can only but agree. That said, this house is not a neutral party in that regard.

When you host a test, you get to prepare the wicket however you like. England have two excellent fast bowlers and, as Mikey said earlier, quite a few in the shed. Traditionally, the greener the wicket on the first day, the friendlier it is to fast bowlers. In Australia and South Africa, most of the wickets are first day nightmares. The extra moisture and grass on a greener wicket make the bounce livelier, the movement off the seam more pronounced and the likelihood of swing much better. England seem to have prepared flat, uninteresting pitches - conducive to spin, on the assumption that it would favour them.

A green wicket on the first day generally gives the bowlers a chance. A flat dry wicket on the first day is very easy to bat on and seems engineered for a draw at best.

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OK, I think I'm getting it. England prepared their pitches specifically to cater to their spinners, especially later in the Test. But that fucks over their fast bowlers, who end up doing the cricket equivalent of pitching a fast ball down the middle of the plate (i.e. batting practice). And that means big run totals, which usually results in a draw.

I wonder: who makes the decision on how to groom the pitch? The individual grounds, or the English cricketing poobahs?

And this brings about another question (which is good fodder for a lunch-time natter): Which grounds are the most notorious for favoring bowlers of either stripe?

I seem to remember...Perth is a really fast pitch, right?

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Perth loves fast bowlers. Melbourne and Brisbane favour fast bowlers early but will take spin later. The SCG is renowned for being spin friendly but can also help the seamers earlier in a match. Adelaide is generally flat and Hobart is a road.

But all of the Australian wickets have bounce across the majority of a match.

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A green wicket on the first day generally gives the bowlers a chance. A flat dry wicket on the first day is very easy to bat on and seems engineered for a draw at best.

A flat dry wicket in India would be different than it would be in England.The high temperatures and dry conditions in India , will lead to pitch deterioration faster.That brings spinners into the game as early as day3.The same might not happen in other countries.

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A flat dry wicket in India would be different than it would be in England.The high temperatures and dry conditions in India , will lead to pitch deterioration faster.That brings spinners into the game as early as day3.The same might not happen in other countries.

Agreed. The main reason for that is the climate is it not?

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But for climate do its work the pitch needs to be flat in the first place.

I meant that the grounds are as dry as they are due to the climate so the pitches don't really get a chance to be green...

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Boom. Headshot. Glad the man is OK, though. Never like seeing people take beans to the cranium.

I hear you but he was never in any real danger getting hit there. ;)

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And this brings about another question (which is good fodder for a lunch-time natter): Which grounds are the most notorious for favoring bowlers of either stripe?

I seem to remember...Perth is a really fast pitch, right?

Perth has a reputation for being very fast, although it's flattened out a bit in recent years. The fastest, nastiest Test pitch right now is probably the Wanderers. Lord's tends to be pretty fast early on at least, as does the Riverside. New Zealand have a green-top or two, too. Logic suggests that at least some of the West Indies pitches should be pretty fast, but I don't think any of them are quite what they were

As far as spin goes, it's a crapshoot between pretty much any ground in India depending on how it's been prepared. That said, England (and, of late, Australia) are fully capable of making any subcontinental pitch look like a dustbowl. The UAE grounds take spin quite well, too. In England, Cardiff and Old Trafford are probably the best spinning pitches, although neither of them really compare to the subcontinent.

The Colombo pitch is famous for favouring batsmen!

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Perth has a reputation for being very fast, although it's flattened out a bit in recent years. The fastest, nastiest Test pitch right now is probably the Wanderers.

Agreed on the Wanderers. South Africa in general is probably the closest thing to Australia in terms of bounce and favouring fast bowlers. It's not as if the South African team has had any incentive to prepare anything conducive to spin, given the rather glaring lack of quality spin historically in their national team.

Sri Lanka are famed for their roads, my grandma could score centuries on those pitches (and most other subcontinental ones, even if they do take lots of spin). The Windies, to put it delicately, are a bit unpredictable in their pitches. Sometimes you'll get utter roads, other times you'll get...well, a Test abandoned in the first hour because it was too dangerous. To be fair to them, that's just singling out one bad instance, although there are still the odd treacherous pitches thrown up.

I think in general England usually does the best job of offering balanced pitches - something in it for the batsmen, fast bowlers and spinners. Australia doesn't do too badly either, although I am disappointed that Perth has been slowed down. As Stubby has said...traditionally Perth is good for fast bowlers, Brisbane is the greenest of the pitches (grass favouring seamers early on), SCG is the most spin-friendly, Adelaide and Hobart are batting-friendly roads, and the MCG is probably the all-rounder of the pitches.

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