It is high time that the Cricket Committee of the ICC take a closer look at the state of affairs in international cricket and take over the reins of the preparations of international playing strips too.

and also prepare wickets to suit the home team. He said, “I remember once, after we had prepared some turners against Australia, they politely reminded us that, we would have to get prepared for some green topped rippers, once we are on Australian soil.”

Yet, at this end, we feel cricket is changing rapidly. In the past 50 years, cricket has deviated from Tests to ODIs, T-20s to day-night Test cricket with the pink ball now. This means, cricket in general, has even gone beyond the norms of accepted cricket.

Yes, there was a time when Clive Lloyd’s invincible ensemble or, Ian Chappell’s champion combination was truly better than the rest. Can you say the same of any of the combinations today? As a habit, the Australians win at home but, when they move to Sri Lanka they look a sorry and pathetic sight.

At one point, the present English team looked as if they had discovered the perfect combination to rule the rest of the world but, Ashwin and Jadeja pooh-poohed the whole myth during their last Indian series.

At the same time, the Indians are cocka-hoop while playing in their own conditions but, when they go to England, they are down on their knees.

The results are so predictable, one can write the epilogue six months ahead. The ICC is spending millions of good cricket dollars on neutral umpiring, when the results of a Test series is so predictable.

We feel it is high time that the Cricket Committee of the ICC take a closer look at the state of affairs in international cricket and take over the reins of the preparations of international playing strips too.

Remember, back in 2014, in Sri Lanka, it was a struggle for the Proteas to save the game and win the series. Yet, the bottom line was that South Africa were not totally comfortable against the Sri Lankan spin attack.