I think so as well.
If we prepare a series of green tops where the ball seams all over the place then I would absolutely guarantee it.
But that's kind of the point - if pitches everywhere are dialed up to eleven (dust bowls in India and Pakistan, trampolines in South Africa and Australia, fields in England and New Zealand), then away sides are never going to win a Test series again. Home teams will always be better in the conditions they're familiar with, and will win every time.
It's bad for cricket.
When pitches are fair - good for batsmen with only a bit of assistance for the bowlers early on; maybe breaking up a little and helping the spinners on Days 4&5 - (as for example, they were in Australia over Xmas when India played an all-time classic series there) - then Test cricket is the greatest sport in the world. But what we saw in this particular Test was a farce.
When it is a logical, correct decision to open the bowling with Joe Root rather than James Anderson, Jofra Archer or Stuart Broad on the second day of a Test match, then the ground staff have ****ed up in a big way.
Completely agree mate. It’s what I’ve been saying all along. If the pitches are fairer for both teams, then it’s a proper test between batsman and bowler. That is when you see a true winner and fully deserve the result they get, but maybe some are not blessed and can’t quite grasp that.
Cricket is a fantastic sport, and it’s even better when you get classic matches that go the distance between two great cricketing nations.
I fully expect a ball to turn or do a little as a match progresses, but I don’t expect to see a pitch have dramatic turn in the first session on Day 1.
Traditionally you open up with your seamers, and they graft, and later on the spinners get there overs in and, as the match goes on they then make an impact.
I don’t ever remember England producing a pitch that spun so much to help Graeme Swann
The Australians certainly never, and they had the best Leg Spinner I’ve ever seen in Shane Warne.
Ive seen test Matches in Colombo and at Kandy in Sri Lanka actually being there in the stadiums, and never see a ball turn so sharply on Day 1 to help Muttiah Murilitharan.
The whole thing has been a farce, especially this test match. The 2nd test in Chennai we simply wasn’t good enough, but as soon as they saw us skittle the Indians out in the first match they dramatically changed the pitches.
