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Jimmy cooking about pitches
12/11/2007 22:26 - (SA)
Johannesburg - After his team's comprehensive 358 run victory over New Zealand at the
Wanderers on Sunday, Proteas captain Graeme Smith expressed concern about the quality of pitches provided for Test matches.
"It is a bit of a worry that wickets around the country are becoming poorer
and poorer," said Smith. "Our last two or three years, it's been hard to find a wicket that's a good balance between bat and ball.
"I think it's important for the young guys coming through that they learn how to bowl on wickets that are good - especially in the SuperSport Series. If you look at the scores, teams are scoring 190, 200 and scratching around."
South Africa were bowled out for 226 after tea on the first day of the match, and top scorer, Herschelle Gibbs, who made 63, said he had never really felt "in" while he was batting. New Zealand were bowled out for 118 in their first innings, with none of their players able to make 50 runs.
Former national and Transvaal opening batsman Jimmy Cook said on Monday that
he shared some of Smith's concerns.
"I knew from day one that the pitch was going to be difficult to play on,"
he said.
Normally very good
"You could see from the start that the ball would do something, and that there was going to be variable bounce. When one side is bowled out for 200 and the other for 118, then there is a bit of a problem."
Cook, who is the Highveld Lions batting coach, said the pitches for the Lions' first two SuperSport matches, against the Warriors at the Wanderers and against the Diamond Eagles at Kimberley, had not been ideal.
"In our first match at the Wanderers, we were out for 180, and if we had hung on to our catches, we would have had them out for less than 200," he said.
"The wicket in Kimberley is normally very good, but when we got there, we found thick green grass. It was only when we got to Paarl that we had a really good pitch."
Cook said he thought and early start to the season and the weather conditions may have had a part to play in the problem.
"You can prepare a good pitch, but then if you have a lot of rain, the covers have to stay on, and the pitch retains moisture, when what you want is some baking hot sun.
"We need to prepare drier pitches that will provide a good contest between bat and ball, and then start assisting the spin bowlers from day three or four," he said. "I think a good pitch is one that gives the batsman a 70/30 advantage.
"You also don't want a pitch that is so good that one side scores 600 and the other makes 500 and everyone says 'what a boring game'. You need something that is good at the start and then starts breaking up."
Cook, who was a member of the famous Transvaal "Mean Machine" of the 1970s and 80s, said he hoped never again to see a pitch like the "Green Mamba" the Wanderers was well known for in those years.
"In those days our matches only lasted three days," he said. "You wanted to get the other side out as quickly as possible. But a pitch like that would not be acceptable today."
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