gbatman
Member
Are flat wickets killing test cricket?
One day cricket and more so 20Twenty cricket are seen as a batsman's game. But lately Test cricket has been forced into that pattern as well with flat boring wickets.
Test cricket has always been a game that suited both batting and bowling evenly but often use to suite the bowlers or a bowler. Test cricket made names famous such as Lillie, Thompson, Muralitherin, McGrath, Warne, Akram, Botham, Akhtar and Lee where conditions suited for these bowlers to be able to execute their skills and ability with excellent performances and be admired by viewers.
Australia used to be one of the best places to watch cricket with its varying wickets.
The Gabba would be green, swing and seam, luckily the Gabba is one of the few places that hasn't lost this charm.
Perth would be rock hard and later crack and be a fast bowling paradise and now it's flat and boring.
The SCG would spin and often cause a change in the line up of teams, now it doesn't spin much, sometimes swings but is often flat.
Melbourne would have plenty of moisture in the wicket and offer the seamers some assistance especially early on and later it might offer some variable bounce and force batsmen to play with a straight bat. Now it's and boring.
Adelaide was often a place that offered good rough for the spinners and a bit of green for the seamers as well as some reverse swing. It sometimes offers some of these interesting aspects. But is generally a good batting track.
I think the Australian wickets need to go back to their roots to save test cricket. Wearing wickets are unique to test cricket, wickets that change during the match such as rough up, crack, start with grass or moisture to cause seam movement then later flatten out. That is what test cricket had over limited overs cricket but with flat wickets it has nothing over it. No attractions at all that the shorter forms don't have.
People like things to happen during the match like wickets taken, lively conditions can cause batsmen to play their shots too. Flat decks have brought about too many drawn matches which deters fans. Lively wickets shorten the match which appears to be what spectators want, a short match is often a good match as it means plenty is happening and a there will be a result.
So come on curators, let the batsmen have limited overs cricket but lets give test cricket back to the bowlers, make it unique from limited overs cricket and give it back it's charm and bring back the variation within Australian wickets.
One day cricket and more so 20Twenty cricket are seen as a batsman's game. But lately Test cricket has been forced into that pattern as well with flat boring wickets.
Test cricket has always been a game that suited both batting and bowling evenly but often use to suite the bowlers or a bowler. Test cricket made names famous such as Lillie, Thompson, Muralitherin, McGrath, Warne, Akram, Botham, Akhtar and Lee where conditions suited for these bowlers to be able to execute their skills and ability with excellent performances and be admired by viewers.
Australia used to be one of the best places to watch cricket with its varying wickets.
The Gabba would be green, swing and seam, luckily the Gabba is one of the few places that hasn't lost this charm.
Perth would be rock hard and later crack and be a fast bowling paradise and now it's flat and boring.
The SCG would spin and often cause a change in the line up of teams, now it doesn't spin much, sometimes swings but is often flat.
Melbourne would have plenty of moisture in the wicket and offer the seamers some assistance especially early on and later it might offer some variable bounce and force batsmen to play with a straight bat. Now it's and boring.
Adelaide was often a place that offered good rough for the spinners and a bit of green for the seamers as well as some reverse swing. It sometimes offers some of these interesting aspects. But is generally a good batting track.
I think the Australian wickets need to go back to their roots to save test cricket. Wearing wickets are unique to test cricket, wickets that change during the match such as rough up, crack, start with grass or moisture to cause seam movement then later flatten out. That is what test cricket had over limited overs cricket but with flat wickets it has nothing over it. No attractions at all that the shorter forms don't have.
People like things to happen during the match like wickets taken, lively conditions can cause batsmen to play their shots too. Flat decks have brought about too many drawn matches which deters fans. Lively wickets shorten the match which appears to be what spectators want, a short match is often a good match as it means plenty is happening and a there will be a result.
So come on curators, let the batsmen have limited overs cricket but lets give test cricket back to the bowlers, make it unique from limited overs cricket and give it back it's charm and bring back the variation within Australian wickets.
