Incredible whinning article from South African media

[beautifulgame]

how could the Proteas much praised and appreciated batting order do themselves justice and entertain the world on such a surface? Perhaps, like WG Grace, they should have protested. When a youngster had the temerity to bowl the great bearded batsman during an exhibition match in his honour, he replaced the bails and scowled: “The people have come to see me bat, son, not you bowl.”

Faf, Rilee, AB and Davey, all made to look like fools by the slow, low and grippy pitch. And, of course, by the cunning slower balls of Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo – and the off spin of Chris Gayle who bowls about once a year these days.

Why couldn’t the VCA head groundsman just prepare a proper pitch with pace and bounce and some grass on it? A bit more like a South African pitch? India weren’t even playing – it’s not like back in November when India thrashed South Africa in a test match in a pitch similar (but even worse) to this one.

It’s all very well saying that Faf knew the ball wouldn’t come onto the bat nicely when he decided to drive, and that Rilee knew the cut shot was risky early on with such variation in pace, but if the pitch was a proper cricket surface then these things wouldn’t be a factor.

Why should such high quality batsmen be forced to compromise themselves on an inadequate playing surface? The people pay money to watch them thrive, not struggle.

If the groundsman could do his job properly then we wouldn’t be in this mess. Blame him, not the Proteas.

http://mobi.supersport.com/cricket/blogs/neil-manthorp/Nagpur_does_it_again

Seriously how pathetic is this .Why the feck should Nagpur prepare a South African type pitch for a world cup in India .

I know some consider English and Aussie media as whinning but no one is as bad as SA media and former players when it comes being sore losers and whinning

[Adi_91]

We never get turning tracks in SA, even for ICC events. So, no room for complaints.

[Ultimate_Game]

I think the article is a tongue-in-cheek one poking fun at SA's highly touted batting lineup which couldn't adapt to the pitch.

[broken_wings]

Most of the SA players play in IPL. These pitches and conditions are very well known to them and they should have prepared for that. However, my personal view is pitches in this WC are way too slow for T20. No problem with turning track but there has to be some pace on it. Otherwise very hard for batters to play. The balls are keeping low and not coming to the batters. The avg score in most of the pitches are 170-180 but teams are struggling to score 150 on these pitches.

Edited March 26, 2016 by broken_wings

[beautifulgame]

I think the article is a tongue-in-cheek one poking fun at SA's highly touted batting lineup which couldn't adapt to the pitch.

Definitely not.Neil Manthorp has a history of whinning like this

I think the article is a tongue-in-cheek one poking fun at SA's highly touted batting lineup which couldn't adapt to the pitch.

Definitely not.Neil Manthorp has a history of whinning like this

[Stuge]

Lol

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[asterix]

The pitches are sub-standard... No doubt about it. Not fit for International events... Especially the Nagpur and Kolkata ones... I saw few balls today going through very low. Even Keeper had difficulty in keeping on these low bounce pitches...

[zen]

Pitches do look under prepared. In some of the games, the ball was turning like a 4th/5th day test pitch. In LOIs, I prefer sporting wkts 

In major tourneys hosted in Ind, I don't recall Ind ever winning vs a strong side on square turners batting 2nd. It lost to NZ in this tournament. In '96, it lost to SL. Both the loses were embarrassing to say the least

Edited March 26, 2016 by rett

[Nova]

Some pitches may not be good for scoring a lot of runs but I'm loving it. Brings a lot of finer aspects of the game into play:

1. Tests the skills of batsmen especially.

2. Team selection. Horses (donkeys for some teams) for courses.

3. Captain's strategies (or lack of) get exposed.

4. Big shots when they come are more enjoyable.

I just get bored of the run  fest T20 offers all the time on flat wickets. 

[gakgupta]

how could the Proteas much praised and appreciated batting order do themselves justice and entertain the world on such a surface? Perhaps, like WG Grace, they should have protested. When a youngster had the temerity to bowl the great bearded batsman during an exhibition match in his honour, he replaced the bails and scowled: “The people have come to see me bat, son, not you bowl.”

Faf, Rilee, AB and Davey, all made to look like fools by the slow, low and grippy pitch. And, of course, by the cunning slower balls of Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo – and the off spin of Chris Gayle who bowls about once a year these days.

Why couldn’t the VCA head groundsman just prepare a proper pitch with pace and bounce and some grass on it? A bit more like a South African pitch? India weren’t even playing – it’s not like back in November when India thrashed South Africa in a test match in a pitch similar (but even worse) to this one.

It’s all very well saying that Faf knew the ball wouldn’t come onto the bat nicely when he decided to drive, and that Rilee knew the cut shot was risky early on with such variation in pace, but if the pitch was a proper cricket surface then these things wouldn’t be a factor.

Why should such high quality batsmen be forced to compromise themselves on an inadequate playing surface? The people pay money to watch them thrive, not struggle.

If the groundsman could do his job properly then we wouldn’t be in this mess. Blame him, not the Proteas.

http://mobi.supersport.com/cricket/blogs/neil-manthorp/Nagpur_does_it_again

Seriously how pathetic is this .Why the feck should Nagpur prepare a South African type pitch for a world cup in India .

I know some consider English and Aussie media as whinning but no one is as bad as SA media and former players when it comes being sore losers and whinning

This guy is disgrace to jornalism if he is one.....

What about the pitch where eng and sa scored 200+ runs??

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[chewy]

i don't think it's a serious article, looks like one of those page 3 type articles.

 

[kosingh]

He's making fun of South Africa's much hyped batters

[zen]

The article reads more like a tongue in cheek attempt 

[adi B]

Yeah its a bit of sarcastic trolling aimed at saf's overrated batting line up which yet again failed in a crucial match

[Sandeep99]

Sounds sarcastic to me... And it does come across as funny..

[North Sea Tiger]

Neil Manthorp has a long history of writing biased articles against India. He is of the same ilk as Guardian's Mike Selvey i.e rabid, India hating, racist twat. 

[chewy]

Neil Manthorp has a long history of writing biased articles against India. He is of the same ilk as Guardian's Mike Selvey i.e rabid, India hating, racist twat. 

Then even better, because article in OP comes across as satire even though Manthorp didn't mean it. In other words no one takes these writers' views seriously. Readers will club these writers with likes of cricinfo's Andy Zaltzman, good for harmless laughs.  

 

[chewy]

They will lose credibility as cricket writers but in the process unwittingly become satirists. 

[kruiser]

People have trouble identifying sarcasm! Even after the reference to WG Grace incident! 

[nevada]

Then even better, because article in OP comes across as satire even though Manthorp didn't mean it. In other words no one takes these writers' views seriously. Readers will club these writers with likes of cricinfo's Andy Zaltzman, good for harmless laughs.  

 

+1. When I read that, I thought it was satire too!