If Australia wants to succeed in world cricket, we need to do what every other team does – doctor our pitches. But not necessarily in the way you might think.
Traditionally, our pitches have been the quickest and bounciest in the world. This has left touring teams, especially Indian teams, unable to adapt to wildly different conditions.
This is a good thing, as it ensures we as the home side have an advantage. Australian players are excellent off the back foot, and love the ball coming on to the bat.
Our bowlers are also conditioned to bowl back of a length and rely on bounce more than anything else to get wickets.
This suits us at home, but overseas we’re like fish out of water on different pitches overseas.
We can’t deal with seaming pitches like in England, or slow pitches like in Port Elizabeth. As for spinning decks, our inability to handle them leads us to accuse Indians (unfairly) of pitch doctoring.
Variety is needed in Australian pitches. Once was the day where Sydney would be a spinners’ paradise, turning from day three or sooner. Adelaide used to be even slower than it is now.
If our pitches are doctored to replicate conditions found around the world, our team will succeed overseas. Starting at grade level, we need half the pitches in the country to transform from the quick and bouncy wickets that they are now into seaming decks, spinning decks and slow roads.
This help our batsmen to deal with different conditions and develop a more effective technique and mental fortitude for touring. It will also teach our fast bowlers the value of swing bowling, and help us develop more attacking spinners.
These developments need to be carried onto Shield and Test grounds. Only then will our team be dominant in all conditions.
Never again should we have a debacle on the scale of Indian tour last year. Never again should we have a problem on slow decks.
Doctoring is the only answer.
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