No level playing field in this Test match!
FIRST of all, I apologise to all readers who do not enjoy the wonderful spectacle provided by two teams of elite cricketers, battling for supremacy, over a five-day schedule, live from exciting venues around the world. Especially during our gloomy winter months.
Watching the second Test between England and India has, however, made me a grumpy old man.
The overall coverage on Channel 4 has been very good, and helps to provide a wider audience, but to spend, as they have, considerable time reviewing tactics, players’ form, selection, and avoiding the overriding major issue to debate, that of the totally contrived, sub-Test standard playing surface, has left me feeling angry. The pitch debate was almost totally avoided, for whatever reasons, maybe fear of political correctness, or wishing to avoid any form of controversy.
Smarting from England’s excellent, all be it quite surprising victory, in the first Test, the host country contrived, for the second Test, to provide a playing surface that was totally sub-Test standard.
A wicket artificially contrived to provide an unacceptable advantage to the home side, and that would seriously impair any chance for any visiting team.
Oh, you might say “sour grapes” on my part, but in all my 60-plus years of watching Test match cricket, it leaves me hoping that the ICC, cricket’s international governing body, takes actions to eradicate this farce. By adding some form of black soil to the surface, it caused “day five” conditions – or worse – right from the very first bowl.
Before anyone says it’s the same for both teams, it is clearly not.
Most visiting teams would never encounter these artificial conditions anywhere else in the world, and if allowed to continue it would reduce Test matches to around three days of unfair competition. The Indians obviously have contrived these pitches, and can practise bowling and batting regularly to provide clear, unacceptable advantage.
All host countries provide wickets that provide subtle variances in pace, bounce, etc, and that might, or not, provide spin after a few days of acceptable wear and tear.
There was nothing subtle about this farcical wicket. A county providing such a wicket would almost certainly result in a fine for a sub-standard track. The pitch tampering is glaringly obvious when watching the two Tests from the same venue – the ‘red soil’ strip used for an Indian defeat in the first Test, in contrast to the ‘black soil’ wicket on the same cricket square. This form of shenanigans should be stopped by the ICC, or Test matches in India could be considered of low value internationally.
Geoffrey Turner Hewish, Somerset