I would've strangled South African groundsmen for being too kind to India: Geoffrey Boycott

[FischerTal]

Noted commentator and former England batting great Geoffrey Boycott has slammed the pitches used for the recently concluded South Africa's home Tests against India at Johannesburg and Durban. Boycott, who has shared his residence since 2006 between Jersey and South Africa, has a lot of knowhow on the cricketing surfaces in the Rainbow Nation. Boycott was perplexed that South Africa failed to beat India 2-0. "Well, South Africa should have beaten India 2-0. The thing is, these were dry, flat pitches. I've never seen them like that for years in South Africa," Boycott told ESPNCricinfo in his column. (Read: Overall series was fantastic, says MS Dhoni) Such was his critique of the pitches at the Wanderers and Kingsmead that he goes on to say the groundsmen did India a favour by producing flat tracks at home. "Usually there's always a bit of pace and a bit of grass. I would have strangled the groundsmen if I were captain of South Africa. They were too kind to India," he said. Comments made by the usually outspoken 73-year-old have reportedly sharpened the views of local observers, who feel that the cut-short tour seemed to satisfy the visiting side more than the home team. Indian batsmen's domination early on in the second Test made Proteas pacemen Morne Morkel think that the playing surface looked more sub-continental than South African. India were well placed at 181 for 1 after a rain-marred Day 1 of the Kingsmead Test. "I am very surprised with the wicket here. It looks like a sub-continent wicket. It is really dry and a little on the slower side. After the 13th over, the ball looked like it was 60 overs old," Morkel said at the post-day's press conference on December 26. India went on to ultimately lose the second Test by 10 wickets and concede the 2-match series 1-0. Boycott also had unkind words for the England cricket team who have been outclassed in the ongoing Ashes series. Boycott said the team's shot selection in the already lost series has been poor. He added that growing following of limited overs cricket, especially T20s has impacted batting in the longest format of the game. "I really think one-day cricket doesn't help youngsters play Test matches. Because from a young age, for the last 15, 20 years, a youngster plays lots of 40-over, 50-over, 20-over slog cricket, and it's become the thing on television," he said. "Look how big the IPL is, it's huge. So kids want to play this, and from an early age, they're playing crash, bang, wallop. And so when they have to settle down and play over five days and concentrate on their game, I'm afraid it's in their DNA and nature to play all kinds of risky shots, and I see it happen all over the world, it happens a lot," he added.

Source: http://sports.ndtv.com/south-africa-vs-india-2013-14/news/219062-i-wouldve-strangled-south-african-groundsmen-for-being-too-kind-to-india-geoffrey-boycott Looks like with the current English players, their commentators are having a mental breakdown as well :((

[Zap_Brannigan]

SA got lucky that their groundsmen overestimated their weather and got the pitches that we did. We had the worst batting conditions in the 1st test and if the pitch had crumbled as it was expected to, we would have won the 1st test. The bland pitch in the 2nd test went exactly as i predicted that it would go...in SA's favor. Indian bowlers are so crap that they need assistance from the pitch to get wickets. When it didnt swing, we were bound to give a lot of runs. SA bowlers did not need the assistance to keep our modest which was exactly what happened. On the first day i said, "This pitch is a very bad one for us. There is no swing or pace which will make our pace bowlers ineffective against the likes of Smith, Amla, Kallis, ABDV and faf. If it was a green pitch, it would have helped our bowlers like the 1st innings in the last test or the Sreesanth burst last time, or like in perth/headingly etc. and if our batsmen got something like 300 in each innings, we would have had a good chance of a win. But this pitch means that if we only get around 300/350, SA will bat us out of the game on the 2nd/3rd day before the pitch starts to turn. Our bowlers are not good enough to get 20 wickets on unhelpful wickets but theirs are. We could get 400 or more, hope that zaheer gets some reverse swing and jadeja some to bounce. But 20 wickets?I am doubtful." I really have no clue why a lot pf pundits think that a flat pitch would suit India? Infact, i would think that most of our overseas wins in the last few years have come in pitches that favored bowlers. I actually bet 5 pounds on a SA win at the end of 1st days play at the odds of 5/1 and made 30 pounds.

[KeyboardWarrior]

BCCI Kanspiracy .... :orderorder:

[cowboysfan]

SA got lucky that their groundsmen overestimated their weather and got the pitches that we did. We had the worst batting conditions in the 1st test and if the pitch had crumbled as it was expected to, we would have won the 1st test. The bland pitch in the 2nd test went exactly as i predicted that it would go...in SA's favor. Indian bowlers are so crap that they need assistance from the pitch to get wickets. When it didnt swing, we were bound to give a lot of runs. SA bowlers did not need the assistance to keep our modest which was exactly what happened. On the first day i said, "This pitch is a very bad one for us. There is no swing or pace which will make our pace bowlers ineffective against the likes of Smith, Amla, Kallis, ABDV and faf. If it was a green pitch, it would have helped our bowlers like the 1st innings in the last test or the Sreesanth burst last time, or like in perth/headingly etc. and if our batsmen got something like 300 in each innings, we would have had a good chance of a win. But this pitch means that if we only get around 300/350, SA will bat us out of the game on the 2nd/3rd day before the pitch starts to turn. Our bowlers are not good enough to get 20 wickets on unhelpful wickets but theirs are. We could get 400 or more, hope that zaheer gets some reverse swing and jadeja some to bounce. But 20 wickets?I am doubtful." I really have no clue why a lot pf pundits think that a flat pitch would suit India? Infact, i would think that most of our overseas wins in the last few years have come in pitches that favored bowlers. I actually bet 5 pounds on a SA win at the end of 1st days play at the odds of 5/1 and made 30 pounds.

this is obvious if you are watching this indian team,this is why i hope we the greenest wickets in new zealand.

[gattaca]

this is obvious if you are watching this indian team' date='this is why i hope we the greenest wickets in new zealand.[/quote'] Australia will be our biggest challenge considering kookaburra ball ,pitches and spinners.

[mancalledsting]

Geoff Boycott has had a vendetta against indian batsmen ever since Sunny Gavaskar outshone him during their playing days to be widely acknowledged as the world's best opening batsmen of their time.

[vvvslaxman]

Boycott is a certifiable crazy these days. If India scores that has to be a flat pitch. That is the reverse logic used by Padosis and English . Two of the biggest whingers. Who cares. The way our batsmen left the ball was such a delight. I am pretty sure Boycott would not have survived one over against such hostile bowling on those pitches. England would have been rolled over for 50 odd runs. Funny thing is in one dayers only guy who struggled against Steyn was Rohit Sharma, he also struggled in Tests lol.

[Old guy]

Boycott is a certifiable crazy these days. If India scores that has to be a flat pitch. That is the reverse logic used by Padosis and English . Two of the biggest whingers. Who cares. The way our batsmen left the ball was such a delight. I am pretty sure Boycott would not have survived one over against such hostile bowling on those pitches. England would have been rolled over for 50 odd runs. Funny thing is in one dayers only guy who struggled against Steyn was Rohit Sharma, he also struggled in Tests lol.

Tbf rohit has even made ipl tracks look like that in past

[cowboysfan]

Australia will be our biggest challenge considering kookaburra ball ' date='pitches and spinners.[/quote'] i am afraid we dont have the bowlers to prosper on the flat pitches in australia,our batsmen will do well though.

[vvvslaxman]

Tbf rohit has even made ipl tracks look like that in past

2nd odi pitch was very very flat. But India collapsed chasing big total. So they concluded it I was a fast pitch. They judge nature of pitches based on Indian scorecard. Height of ignorance. That is all one can say.

[Old guy]

2nd odi pitch was very very flat. But India collapsed chasing big total. So they concluded it I was a fast pitch. They judge nature of pitches based on Indian scorecard. Height of ignorance. That is all one can say.

That's why I don't care who experts rate or not...they can be just as clueless as rest of us

[special K]

BCCI won't bully ECB into making flat wickets for India.

[CG]

Boycott is a certifiable crazy these days. If India scores that has to be a flat pitch. That is the reverse logic used by Padosis and English . Two of the biggest whingers. Who cares. The way our batsmen left the ball was such a delight. I am pretty sure Boycott would not have survived one over against such hostile bowling on those pitches. England would have been rolled over for 50 odd runs. Funny thing is in one dayers only guy who struggled against Steyn was Rohit Sharma, he also struggled in Tests lol.

:hysterical: so kohli,dhawan scored 100 ,50s in odis,Let me check on that.Pitches were flat in tests in comparison to history of pitches we have faced on last tours.Durban last tour was a diff wicket altogether.Jo berg too in 2006/07.

[ThePhenomenal1]

Why can't you just give credit to India you dogs (not icf, the media and commentators) We had a tough 1st test 1st day pitch against the best bowlers. We tired them out. Our bowling let us down. Not our batting. Face it, SA bowling was neutralised. There were some great moments from SA bowling, but a lot of wickets were thrown away and India has to fix that and their lower order. P.S I'm glad KP went past him in the runs column.

[vvvslaxman]

:hysterical: so kohli' date='dhawan scored 100 ,50s in odis,Let me check on that.Pitches were flat in tests in comparison to history of pitches we have faced on last tours.Durban last tour was a diff wicket altogether.Jo berg too in 2006/07.[/quote'] Not true . Cape Town pitch where sachin and azhar made 100s were very very slow pitch. But Durban was quick . But we collapsed for 100 and 66. The Jo burg was anything but flat. Ball zipped off the surface. In addition there were lot of cracks. In one dryers India chased huge totals. Hence collapse. But nobody looked uncomfortable but for Rohit sharma who was totally clueless.

[vvvslaxman]

Why can't you just give credit to India you dogs (not icf, the media and commentators) We had a tough 1st test 1st day pitch against the best bowlers. We tired them out. Our bowling let us down. Not our batting. Face it, SA bowling was neutralised. There were some great moments from SA bowling, but a lot of wickets were thrown away and India has to fix that and their lower order. P.S I'm glad KP went past him in the runs column.

Basically sour grapes. They can't stomach seeing a top order playing with such discipline other than their team.

[CG]

Not true . Cape Town pitch where sachin and azhar made 100s were very very slow pitch. But Durban was quick . But we collapsed for 100 and 66. The Jo burg was anything but flat. Ball zipped off the surface. In addition there were lot of cracks. In one dryers India chased huge totals. Hence collapse. But nobody looked uncomfortable but for Rohit sharma who was totally clueless.

Capetown can be flat ,last tour also capetown was nothing like the one aussie faced.Joberg had zip for 2 days after that it just flattened out which the scores of 400+ by both Sa and India show.U got to stay there for sometime others threw their wickets,Rohit struggled in first odi where he got runout by raina after surviving the spell by steyn.even in durban he looked good before throwing it away to tsotsobe. If somebody u have look at then it has to be dhawan whose batting against shortball is far more serious problem . Regarding pitches yes they were flatter than previous tours but still we batted first so 2 innings were on helpful conditions and we might have won a test if we had a green pitch.

[vamos_rafa]

Not true . Cape Town pitch where sachin and azhar made 100s were very very slow pitch. But Durban was quick . But we collapsed for 100 and 66. The Jo burg was anything but flat. Ball zipped off the surface. In addition there were lot of cracks. In one dryers India chased huge totals. Hence collapse. But nobody looked uncomfortable but for Rohit sharma who was totally clueless.

Flat or not we were 58/5 and 28/2 on the respective pitches. Also, I am pretty sure had we failed in those innings, the world would have come out and said that Indians can't bat abroad.

[vvvslaxman]

Capetown can be flat ' date='last tour also capetown was nothing like the one aussie faced.[b']Joberg had zip for 2 days after that it just flattened out which the scores of 400+ by both Sa and India show.U got to stay there for sometime others threw their wickets,Rohit struggled in first odi where he got runout by raina after surviving the spell by steyn.even in durban he looked good before throwing it away to tsotsobe. If somebody u have look at then it has to be dhawan whose batting against shortball is far more serious problem . Regarding pitches yes they were flatter than previous tours but still we batted first so 2 innings were on helpful conditions and we might have won a test if we had a green pitch.

So you agree it was not flat atleast for 2 days. But lack of lateral movement does not automatically means flat. Pitch had good carry. Cracks were widening. Batting was disciplined from both sides in the second innings. Ashwins failure for India and morkels absence for SA helped SA and India a bit. Both were short of one bowler. Getting bowled out 47 is not the only indication of pitch being juicy. India made 600 runs in headingley in 2002. First day pitch was very hard to bat. Ball was whooshing around. Even bangar put his down an d played responsibly. Sometimes we have to realize good batting can make pitch look flatter much like good bowling can make a flat pitch look like juicy.

[vvvslaxman]

Flat or not we were 58/5 and 28/2 on the respective pitches. Also' date=' I am pretty sure had we failed in those innings, the world would have come out and said that Indians can't bat abroad.[/quote'] Bad batting, good bowling can make good batting pitch look like a minefield. Exhibit A England batting at the MCG.