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.
eee
Guest
If you actually played grade cricket you would know they are all slow
Paul Callings
Guest
Great article about the Pitches in Australia however i am not sure the Australian cricket spectator at the Gabba and Perth lets say in the 2018/19 series would trade a fast green top with 150 km missiles being bowled to the Poms, Kiwis or South Africa to a dead pitch, a spinning wicket or a seaming wicket just so we can practice for the next overseas tour. Indoor cricket simulators are getting better at replicating bowlers and pitch conditions. Let's leave Australian pitches alone ( as they are our history) and take our chances on overseas tours. The best overseas batsmen that tour Australia see success on Australian pitched as one of the highlights of their careers. Lara, Tendulka, Richards , Gavaskar , Sangarkara would agree.
Jason Rebelo
Roar Pro
Adelaide is fine as a road. Let bowlers find some swing and others methods to get people out, maybe spin on day 4. The MCG should be good on day 1 for bowlers, seaming etc but flatten more as the games goes on. Bit of spin later on, but not too much.
Jason Rebelo
Roar Pro
That's the whole point. We dont want to, but we have to. It leaves us without a good technique on those pitches which we find in India. Did you even read the article? Oh, and a spinners deck would actually let us produce spinners who can attack better.
Jason Rebelo
Roar Pro
Tasmanian pitches should resemble English wickets, given that the Tasmanian climate is similar to the English one. Granted, Bellrieve is often a seamers deck.
Jayden
Guest
Umm, weren't we all comlaining a few months ago, the wickets were to harsh for batsmen? What team would want to play at a spinning deck anyway? Maybe NSW when they Magill, i doubt that anyone wants to now.
up in the north
Guest
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we already have varied wickets? Given our climate just how do you propose we produce 'an English seaming wicket' ;-)
Sideline Comm.
Guest
I completely agree with this article. It would lead to better preparation from young ages, develop more diverse skill sets and give each Aussie pitch an even more unique character. I can't see a down side, unless it's that the Aussies in the short term will be less effective at home, but it's short term pain for long term gain. Which pitch will be which though? Sydney can be a true spinner, and Adelaide a road, Brisbane bounces but has less pace than Perth, which would hopefully be a paceman's dream. But what about the MCG, the mongrel of Australian wickets. If it could be turned into a English style seamer it would be perfect.
Jason Rebelo
Roar Pro
It's critical that pitches are varied or else players wont have a clue how to play on turners or slow pitches.
Yeah I think T20 is changing the nature of pitches.
Chui
Guest
That and the talent you've had at your disposal :). And all without a quality spinner. This is the good point the author raises. We used to have much more varied pitches. For me the use of drop ins may have put paid to such variation. That, and the public thirst for roads so that batsman can do anything.
South Africa has been relatively successful over the past six years overseas. There is one major factor I beleive contributes to that, our pitches all differ in characteristic.