Root pitches in over two-day test Cost blowout forces NZ to opt out of Olympic qualifiers
Joe Root called for countries who produce substandard pitches to face sanctions after India completed the fastest test victory by any side since 1935 on an extraordinary second day in Ahmedabad.
Seventeen wickets fell in just over five chaotic hours of the third test, with England being bowled out in a session for 81. In total, England lasted 476 balls across two innings – the fifth fewest in their test history.
The result means New Zealand will play India in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in London in June provided India don’t lose the final test. If they do, New Zealand will face Australia.
Criticism centred on the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch, which delivered significant turn and bounce from the early stages.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan branded it ‘‘awful’’ and a ‘‘complete lottery’’, while one of his successors, Sir Alastair Cook, said it was ‘‘nigh-on impossible’’ to bat on.
Thirty wickets fell for just 387 runs in the match, as the first game at the 110,000-capacity stadium in Ahmedabad ended in just 140.2 overs – the seventh shortest in history.
It was the first time a test had finished within two days since 2000. Root, who took a test-best 5-8 with his part-time offbreaks, said the wicket had not allowed fans to witness the best skills of the teams.
‘‘I almost feel like they’ve been robbed,’’ he said. ‘‘Instead, they had to watch me get wickets on there, which shouldn’t be the case.’’
Under International Cricket Council rules, a ground can receive demerit points – potentially leading to a set ban on hosting internationals – but teams cannot be docked points in the World Test Championship.
Root said that the nature of sanctions for pitches was a matter for the ICC to consider in the future.
‘‘It’s something I’m sure they’ll look at off the back of the last couple of matches,’’ Root said.
‘‘I’m sure they’ve looked at other wickets around the world at different times, and maybe had to answer similar questions. There’s always going to be slight home advantage, but it is a shame when you have got so many fantastic players that can’t have an input into a test match.’’
Root declined to comment on whether there should be sanctions against Ahmedabad specifically. ‘‘Every now and then you expect to deal with a surface that is quite challenging,’’ he said.
‘‘Whether it’s fit for purpose, that’s more a question for the ICC. As players you want to compete against the best in whatever conditions they are. But, there’s got to be a contest there.’’
India captain Virat Kohli blamed ‘‘a lack of application from both sides’’ for the two-day match rather than the wicket. ‘‘It was a very good pitch to bat on, especially first up. The ball was coming on nicely.’’
– Telegraph Group
The Tall Blacks’ Olympic dream for Tokyo 2021 is officially over after Basketball New Zealand were forced to make the brutal call to withdraw from the qualifying tournament in Serbia because of a crippling cost blowout.
Basketball NZ chief executive Iain Potter told Stuff the decision announced yesterday to withdraw New Zealand men’s teams from the Olympic qualifying tournament in Belgrade (June 29-July 4) and the 3X3 OQT in Austria (May 26-30) had been one made reluctantly. Players’ representatives had been consulted throughout the process.
‘‘It was a stark choice,’’ said Potter of essentially taking away the Olympic aspirations of a group of New Zealanders in 2021. ‘‘But it was a matter of choosing the best of two poor outcomes. We started the year with the assumption we would aim to do everything, but it became apparent that’s not possible.
‘‘We just cannot afford it. There are two pathways, and one is a dead end. ‘‘Even if we qualify, this year’s Olympics doesn’t qualify you for anything beyond. The other pathway keeps us in the first tier of world basketball and carries us through to the next World Cup in ’23 and potentially the next Olympics in ’24.’’
Essentially Basketball NZ were boxed into a corner caused by the Covid-19 pandemic after much of the 2020 international programme had been pushed into 2021, alongside commitments already in place.
That, and a massive budget blowout caused by rising costs associated with the pandemic, created an untenable situation for Basketball NZ which operates on a shoestring budget anyway, with just $200,000 in total funding out of High Performance NZ coffers.
The cost of attending the two Olympic qualifying tournaments and fulfilling border isolation requirements after would have been around $750,000, which is money the national organisation just does not have.
As it is, Basketball NZ is still going to have to come up with $1.5 million to fund its national programme commitments in 2021.