Clarke's parting plea for better Test pitches

[rkt.india]

Clark has signed off for the final time as Australia's captain with a plea for groundsmen to be granted the freedom to prepare the pitches they see fit, after the conclusion of the equal shortest Ashes series ever. No match reached the fifth day and two barely made it into a third, leaving Clarke to wonder if this was healthy. Australia have taken pride in the way home pitches are prepared by groundsmen largely independent of national team influence, meaning that each ground has a chance to develop its own consistent characteristics. However the surfaces at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge in particular seemed tailored to the whims of England's captain Alastair Cook and coach Trevor Bayliss, expressed publicly through the media, resulting in short, one-sided contests after the Australians failed to cope with conditions. Clarke called for groundsmen to be allowed to dictate their own pitches. "I'd like to see groundsmen around the world - not just here - have the courage to go with what they think is a good cricket wicket," he said. "I think we've seen in the first two Test matches a lot of talk from the media and the commentators . . . about how flat the wickets were, yet those two Test matches were over in four days. One team won and one team lost. The next three are over in two and a half and three days." "I think Test cricket is a five-day battle. I want to see good and fair cricket for both batters and bowlers. I think that's the way the game should be played - and, most importantly, I want to see a winner and a loser. But if the groundsman feels he knows how to produce a good wicket that will be a great battle of Test match cricket then I'd like to see them back themselves and go with that and not be persuaded by what's said in the media or what the commentators say." Looking back over the series, Clarke argued that better cricket was witnessed at Cardiff and Lord's than in the ensuring three Tests, even if Australia rebounded from their heavy losses at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge to win on a somewhat more equitable surface at the Oval. He also said that numerous English groundsmen had told him they were unhappy to be compelled to do the bidding of others. "Cardiff and Lord's, we did see some really good cricket. I'm not saying the wickets were fantastic - don't get me wrong - but we've seen a winner and a loser over four days," Clarke said. "I think the past three Test matches have not been that case. People have tickets for today to watch a whole day's play and tomorrow, and the same for Edgbaston and Nottingham. The fans of the game deserve to see a really good contest for five days. "I don't know what influence the ECB had . . . and to be honest I don't know what influence they [Cricket Australia] have in Australia either. If I go to the groundsman at the Gabba and say 'I want it to be a turned like the SCG' he'll absolutely laugh at me. It might be different around the world. You're given a role, a responsibility, and a job and you want to be able to do your best at that. "I've got a feeling, from the conversations I've had with a lot of the groundsmen in this country, they're a little bit disappointed they haven't been able to do as they've wanted to do." Clarke finished his career with 115 Tests, of which 57 were played against either England or India. When asked about this slant in terms of fixtures, Clarke said he wanted to see the game grow as widely as possible, and hoped that administrators would genuinely seek to achieve that in the future. "I'd love cricket to be played in every country around the world . . . I'd love everybody to have the opportunity to see this great game," he said. "In the same breath I cherish how lucky I've been to be able to play against England as regularly as I have, and play against India and South Africa and Bangladesh, whether it's Test, one-day or Twenty20 cricket. "Whatever we can do to grow the game, make the game better, touch a lot of different people around the world, that's what I would like to see. I'd like to see cricket played in all countries."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/913013.html

[kosingh]

On the one hand there are complaints about cricket being too batter friendly and the need for bowlers to be given something. On the other hand this. I don't think there was that much wrong with the wickets here. Batsmen around the world have just forgotten how to apply themselves for long periods in test cricket.

[HippoSucks]

While everyone wants to see those bowling displays like 8-15, it shouldn't become an often occurrence due to the type of pitches. Most of the time matches should last for 4-5 days. However in this series the pitch didn't have a lot to do with the short matches, it was just horrible batting from either side.

[vvvslaxman]

Sporting pitch for Australia = Flat pitch

[adi B]

Expected from the master of HTB ,though he has a point

[Trichromatic]

Batting was quite poor tbh. Pitches helped bowlers but other teams have played on more bowling friendly pitches and matches weren't over in 3 days.

[Vijy]

While everyone wants to see those bowling displays like 8-15' date=' it shouldn't become an often occurrence due to the type of pitches. Most of the time matches should last for 4-5 days. However in this series the pitch didn't have a lot to do with the short matches, it was just [b']horrible batting from either side.

In that 60 all out, Aus redefined the notion of "horrible batting". Have to give it to them, when they imploded, they did it brilliantly, almost awe-inspiringly... made our own 112 in the 4th innings of SL test look positively ordinary in comparison.

[Marut]

Australia's batting quality needs to improve - pitches were fine. Shot selection was extremely bad. Normally in England you play watchfully first session on the first day. But Australians were trying to play at as many deliveries as possible, which is a bad strategy on a wicket with lateral movement. They raced to 30/5 in 6 overs!! They did not leave deliveries even at this point and folded for 60. They could have left alone many deliveries and they would have reached 60/2 by lunch. Then the wicket would have eased off, and like England showed they too would have made a big score by the end of the day. You don't throw your bats around like tailenders and then complain about the pitch. Australians bat too aggressively for their current skill levels. Their batsmen simply don't have swing negotiation skills like their predecessors so they must at least learn to weather the tough phases and tire out the bowlers before charging them.

[Vijy]

Australia's batting quality needs to improve - pitches were fine. Shot selection was extremely bad. Normally in England you play watchfully first session on the first day. But Australians were trying to play at as many deliveries as possible' date=' which is a bad strategy on a wicket with lateral movement. They raced to 30/5 in 6 overs!! They did not leave deliveries even at this point and folded for 60. They could have left alone many deliveries and they would have reached 60/2 by lunch. Then the wicket would have eased off, and like England showed they too would have made a big score by the end of the day. You don't throw your bats around like tailenders and then complain about the pitch. Australians bat too aggressively for their current skill levels. Their batsmen simply don't have swing negotiation skills like their predecessors so they must at least learn to weather the tough phases and tire out the bowlers before charging them.[/quote'] Very true. Too much reliance on the top order as well; they need to find capable middle order bats and a replacement for Rogers.

[kosingh]

No wonder Clarke is not very popular with anyone in world cricket. Not even Australian fans, players and the board.

[Precambrian]

lol @ whining. Retire gracefully idiot.

[G_B_]

australia mostly have drop in pitches at home not sure thats allowing the groundsman to make them as they want

[YCCC]

All the grounds had their usual differing characteristics. Slow and low at Cardiff, flat but with a bit of pace and bounce at Lord's and the Oval, seam at Edgbaston, seam and swing at TB. I've nothing against Michael Clarke. He was one of the nicer captains Australia have had (perhaps the reason for the generally bad press towards him from their over the top media) but I think he's wrong here.

[Vijy]

All the grounds had their usual differing characteristics. Slow and low at Cardiff, flat but with a bit of pace and bounce at Lord's and the Oval, seam at Edgbaston, seam and swing at TB. I've nothing against Michael Clarke. He was one of the nicer captains Australia have had (perhaps the reason for the generally bad press towards him from their over the top media) but I think he's wrong here.

I don't think he is calling for abandonment of home advantage fully. More of pitches that last 4-5 days; of course, what he doesn't state is that many of the Ashes matches ended because of the inept batting rather than the pitches themselves.