Suresh Raina’s slash over point might have ended this international summer of cricket on a bleak note for Australian supporters, but in truth there’s been little to cheer about for fans of the game.
True, the Aussies enjoyed an undefeated summer up until the last ODI against India, but from a purist’s point of view, there were few passages of truly gripping cricket.
The reason?
Poor pitches; surfaces that were seemingly prepared to make batting as simple as possible.
For the Twenty20 series against India, such pitches can be excused. The format’s requirement for batsmen to score at eight to ten runs an over from the first ball tends to create wicket-taking opportunities regardless of the conditions.
For ODIs, the flat decks are not as forgivable. For Test matches, they are even less so.
The pitches prepared for the one-dayers offered no seam movement and little swing, and led to the highest-scoring five-match ODI series in the history of cricket.
Similarly, the surfaces for the Test series against New Zealand and the West Indies were tame enough to turn Adam Voges into the second-greatest batsman in Test history, if batting averages are anything to go by.
The problem isn’t that there were plenty of runs scored in the summer. It is that they were scored in such a monotonous fashion that the gripes often aired by Test cricket’s critics – it’s boring, it’s too slow, it goes for five damn days and nothing ever bloody happens – almost began to ring true.
The Tests against New Zealand generally saw a period of slightly probing new-ball bowling, which quickly gave way to 70 overs of dominant batting.
The WACA pitch in particular was so benign that, barring a calamitous batting performance, a draw seemed the only possible result after a just couple of overs.
The ODIs were much the same; each game inevitably saw batsmen go hard for the first ten or so overs before meandering through the middle part of the innings at five or six an over without anything even remotely resembling a risk, and then letting loose in the closing stages.
Sure, it led to a few memorable last overs, but the bulk of the games were dull affairs, with batsmen and bowlers alike going through the motions, unable to spark the match into something unexpected.
It’s not that the cricket was boring, it’s that it was monotonous and repetitious. It was like an album comprised the same ten songs, all played in a slightly different key.
Actually, stuff it.
It was boring. Boring as it was predictable.
The one exception was the day-night Test in Adelaide. A game which hung in the balance for its entirety. A game which was unpredictable. A game which, until Peter Siddle squeezed away the winning runs, no-one really knew who was going to win.
Was it a coincidence that this sole exciting Test happened to be played on the one pitch that offered some assistance to the bowlers?
I think not.
Now, don’t mistake this for a call to turn every Australian pitch into a grassy minefield. Criticism of surfaces that offer far too much for the bowlers – the most recent example being the Nagpur pitch prepared for South Africa’s tour of India – is justified.
But pitches like Nagpur should never be considered that much worse than what was prepared for the Perth Test this summer. After all, why should batsman-friendly surfaces be deemed acceptable while bowler-friendly ones are derided?
What is needed is a balance between bat and ball; pitches that make batsmen work hard to maintain their wickets in the face of quality bowling, but ones that require bowlers to earn their scalps. The Adelaide Oval pitch was one such example.
It is a fine balance, but one which should be strived for.
With Test cricket struggling to retain audiences and ODIs losing relevance to the behemoth that is Twenty20, creating bowler-friendly pitches should become increasingly important, for it is more often than not the bowlers that determine just how gripping – and hence how entertaining for viewers – cricket is.
On flat pitches, bowlers are little more than metronomes, able to determine the tempo of a match, but incapable of changing its tune.
On evenly-balanced decks however, bowlers can find their voice, and add the colour and emotion a match requires.
And cricket is all the better for it.
High-scoring innings are far fewer, and hence appreciated so much more. Centuries and even half-centuries are that much more valuable when runs are earned in spite of relentless bowling. Spectators are tied to the very edge of their seats, not knowing what direction the game will veer towards.
Cricket becomes unpredictable. It loses its monotony. It becomes exciting.
We may not have been treated to much cricket of that ilk this summer, but let us hope next season can deliver.
Don Freo
Guest
I don't think even T20 pitches need batsmen friendly wickets. Wickets that reward a bowler's skill will not only reward the good bowlers...it will flesh out and reward the best batsmen. Dead, flat pitches level the playing field for lesser skilled players. That is not what we want with elite sport.
Andy
Guest
Thats what worries me the most about Australia cricket and our having so many easy to bat on pitches, our next generation of bowlers and batsman will be rubbish outside of Australia having no idea how to play on contrary pitches. We need a drought again so there is no water to spare for cricket pitches. Would help fielding too because the outfield will be so dry the ball will bounce everywhere.
DJW
Guest
Hear hear. Fully agree. I am very interested to see how our batsmen do in New Zealand when faced with pitches with a bit of life and conditions conductive to swing. I won't be surprised if is the last ashes in England again. Our batsmen have been absolutely pampered with the pitches this summer. All they need to is focus on hitting through the line knowing the bounce will be consistent and very little movement. Cricket Australia don't care as long as they $ KPI's are met.
Simon
Guest
This is so important. I watch every Australian Test every summer but other than the Adelaide Test it was all just so monotone. Post the 13/14 Ashes Australia's Test scores at home has been over 500 in every game bar the Adelaide D/N. And not just scraping there, literally scores of 3/550, 4/600 etc. Obviously it probably has a lot to do with administrators wanting the full 5 days but anyone with any passion for cricket at all can see that long term this will kill the game. Test cricket is at it;s best when bowlers are on top; not just because it's great to watch sublime bowling, but also because it's a lot more fun to watch a batsmen work through an innings and survive rather than just walk out and hit the ball all around the park until playing a lazy shot on 150 or something. I wish there was something more we could do to really push this message to the people running the game but at the moment it seems that just spreading momentum online is the best bet
Linus Fernandes
Roar Rookie
I don't see why it's so much of a problem. Let the bowlers treat the ODIs and T20s as practice and cut out bowling in the nets. Let them reserve their best for the Tests. There ... that resolves that whinge!
Daniel Jeffrey
Editor
The pressure on batsmen to score at such a high rate in T20s often means that accurate, tight bowling is all that's required to create a wicket-taking opportunity. Take the first two T20s from the recent series; Australia lost 18 wickets to India's six, the only reason being the batsmen were denied many chances to free their arms and raise the run-rate. I certainly wouldn't be against putting a bit more life into T20 pitches, but of all cricket's formats it is the one least in need of bowler-friendly surfaces.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Brilliant article. Couldn't agree more Thanks for raising the issue
AJM
Guest
Surely the influence from broadcasters to assure tests go five days is a false economy. The WACA test must rate as one of the biggest borefests in the history of test cricket. Any more of that and test cricket won't survive. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I actually found the T20 internationals more interesting that the One dayers this year as working singles in the one dayers was so easy it became a complete no contest. At least in the T20's they have to try and get more than one a ball regularly. That above opinion is only the case because the state of the game makes it so easy for the batsmen that I am now force to judge which game is slightly harder for the batsmen.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Agree. I found the T20's incredibly boring.
Mike from Tari
Guest
Why do T20's need flat pitches pray tell, the games are a competition between bat & ball so all forms of cricket should be the same, get rid of the huge edges on the bats.
Bobbo7
Guest
Good article and one most cricket lovers will agree with. We don't need swamps but there must be something for the bowlers. Watching guys tick along a run a ball is boring. I love the cricket but I turned off the second one dayer with India because it just got boring. T20 I understand the flat pitches but ODIs and Tests need a battle between bat and ball. While guys like Smith and Kohli are excellent, I do feel the roads they play on take a little shine off their excellent records. For guys of that ability, they have basically been playing on concrete in Australian conditions the last 2-3 years.
JGK
Roar Guru
Well said. No doubt the likes of James Sutherland or Brad McNamara will point to viewer figures or some other spurious grounds to justify how awesome international cricket is. But yes, this summer was tedious as hell and I say that as a person who absolutely LOVES cricket.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Dull as dishwater summer of cricket. I was crook and at home for day 1 and 2 of the Brisbane test. The first half hour of each morning was interesting, after that it was boring despite the run rate ticking along at close to five an over. Unfortunately these days any time you see a test wicket that provides anything for the bowlers, sides seem to get rolled for less than a hundred. Same with the one dayers. Consecutive scores of over 300 that were chased down but really predictable and boring. Like most, happy to see batsmen friendly wickets in T20 but even then the sight of players clearing the boundary at extra cover from a miscue doesn't really do that much for me. Bit of a whinge, not much in the way of a solution, but cricket demands a big committment from the spectator. I need to be entertained to justify spending the long hours.
Peter Z
Guest
Yep, give us pitches that empower bowlers, not enfeeble them.
Paul Potter
Roar Guru
Hear Hear!