Sri Lankan Wickets Criticised
The fifth day of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and India was simply pointless. After both teams scored massive totals in the first innings, the fate of the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Test in Colombo was sealed. It only provided fodder for Test cricket skeptics. The fact that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 and Pragyan Ojha batted for an entire session is really a daunting one. In times when T20 is gaining popularity due to its fast nature, such matches are not helping the cause of Test cricket.
Players from both teams have expressed their displeasure over the nature of wicket. Even the hosts, who benefited from such a wicket as now they are in a commanding position to seal the Test series, have criticised the wicket. Sri Lanka is famous for slow wickets. The Sri Lankan team is equipped with quality spinners and slow wickets have always provided the hosts some leverage. But in the second test even spinners looked helpless as batsmen piled on runs.
Sri Lankan team looked content from the fact they were able to retain their lead in the Test series. This was evident from Mahela Jayawardene’s statement, who is one of most senior players in the Sri Lankan team. Defending the wicket at SSC, he said, “I mean what kind of surface you want, the matches where we finish in two days or three days? We shouldn't complain. In overseas, we have come across some wickets where we weren't able to lay a bat on [the ball]. That's still a challenge. These are challenges and you shouldn't complain”.
On the other hand, visitors are clearly displeased. India’s ranking in Test cricket is at stake if they lose this series. With one Test left, all attention is now on Colombo’s wicket. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s captain, has severely criticised the SSC wicket. He said, “On this kind of a wicket, 99. 9 % times you won't get a result. People talk about sporting wickets. For me, a sporting wicket doesn't mean it has to seam around or it has to have the bounce. In the subcontinent, it's very difficult to make a wicket like that”. He further added, “But what the subcontinent is known for is the turning track. Of course, this was a placid track. Nothing really for the fast bowlers. Still if you see in the second innings, there was wear and tear and the bowlers bowled well”.
Sinhalese Sports Club’s wicket has also received criticism from former players and pundits. Amid such brutal criticism, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anurudda-Polonowita-c45218, Sri Lanka's national curator, has jumped into frenzy and defended the development of such a wicket. Instead of laying responsibility on the wicket for such a dull match, he has blamed the weak bowling for such result. He said, “I am quite happy [with the pitch] Why don't you talk about bowling rather than the pitch?”. The irony is that ICC rules regulating pitch and wickets allow development of such tracks. ICC’s rules won’t even call tracks such as SSC, poor tracks. According to ICC, “A poor pitch is one that provides excessive seam or spin, excessively uneven bounce, or one that displays limited carry, low bounce and no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match”. SSC won’t fit this description because it displayed some turn even if it was only for a few hours. Such loopholes in ICC’s regulations are there to be exploited by its member nations.
There is one aspect which is quite interesting and needs consideration. During the 90s, Sri Lankan pitches were famous for producing no-results. But when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 hosted 20 draws out of 42 before 2000, and only 11 out of 54 since. Now, with Murali gone, a question emerges; is Sri Lanka back to playing it safe?
Tags: