Yep, agreed. The Basin pitch was a road, and the Christchurch pitch was still a reasonable batting strip. And judging from some of the scores in the State Championship so far, there's been plenty of roads in domestic cricket - the problem was that our batsmen simply aren't good enough to play Murali & aren't used to Malinga's action. It's not as though he was bouncing out our batsmen - he only delivers the ball from shoulder height ffs - it was pretty much all yorkers that took wickets.16 tins of Spam said:
Not only do this weekend's results indicate that New Zealand and South Africa struggle on bowler-friendly wickets, but also that the quality of fast bowling is developing more uniformly worldwide. India and Sri Lanka, two test nations with a traditional lack of quality pace bowlers, are developing talent in that department more regularly nowadays. This is due to a variety of factors - academies such as the MRF pace academy, overseas under-19 and A-team tours and the gradual improvement of pitches in India and Sri Lanka. We still have a long way to go to be on par with the McGraths, Flintoffs and Pollocks of test cricket, but the progress is there and this is playing a part in exposing the vulnerability of non-sub continental sides on bowler-friendly tracks.Jono said:The amazing thing about these wins is that the NZ and SA have been completely demolished by impressive fast bowling (yeah Murali and Kumble played parts in the wins, but Malinga for SL and Sreesanth and Zaheer for India were the main instigators). South Africa was embarrassingly dismissed in the 1st innings for only 84 by India on a track which was greatly helping the fast bowlers, and NZ themselves only made 130 on wickets they should be very used to by now. On top of that, its not like the fast bowlers were all-time greats; Malinga and Sreesanth are hardly your McGrath, Flintoff or Pollock (not yet anyway hey SilentStriker), hell they’re not even as good or as experienced as Ntini, Nel, Akhtar and other very good fast bowlers around ATM. Yet they ran through the NZ and SA batting sides, with genuine pace and swing on helpful pitches for fast bowling.
IT. WAS. A. ROAD.adharcric said:
First of all, there is nothing wrong with NZ pitches. One of the fantastic things about cricket are the different pitches in different countries.16 tins of Spam said:
That's got more to do with the oft overcast conditions rather than the state of the pitch, IMO.Jono said:
Yeah I understand that, the overcast conditions helped Malinga swing it late. That's sort of my point, whether it be swing like Sreesanth and Zaheer got in SA, and Malinga here, or seam like Clark was getting in SA earlier in the year, they did look pretty helpless at times. I mean Malinga was ripping out stumps yorkers/full tosses on a regular basis.dontcloseyoureyes said:
Lol, glad someone liked it. Thought it was the best bit of the post tbhvic_orthdox said:
Yes! Excellent point that I failed to mention. I think its best seen in Gibbs, and it saw his downfall in both innings. A lot of batsmen just flay their arms outside off, and when the ball is going straight up and down, it can be effective and look very good.vic_orthdox said:
I agree.silentstriker said:
It was pretty harmless, yeah. Good bowling, poor batting.silentstriker said:
Haha, maybe. I don't really think so though - that batting lineup doesn't really reflect our future.R_D said:
Maybe on the Sunday, when it was overcast for a little while. The rest of the time the weather was lovely, aside from a strong wind at times. If Malinga got swing, it was probably down to skill on his part. I guess that backs up your original post.Jono said:
