England have just had a fabulous summer. They won 6 out of the 7 tests with the sole loss coming against South Africa. They decimated both New Zealand and South Africa and annihilated India in a mammoth chase. Yet, the former English captain and one of the greatest commentator this game has ever seen is not really happy with the wins. Elsewhere, Rahul is clearly feeling the pressure. This blog is about Boycott is not happy with the pitches and Rahul’s whining.
Boycott’s comments
Geoffrey Boycott says that the pitches during the English summer as being bowler friendly.
“Too many matches this summer have been three-day Tests,” he said. “This has been two days. That is not ideal for Test cricket. Counties lose a lot of revenue and spinners become superfluous. On these pitches it is impossible for batsmen to get used to playing for long periods and making centuries.
“Many of the balls bowled in this Test, and most of the others, would give any batsmen nightmares. All they are trying to do is stay in. I don’t care how good a batsman’s technique is, bowlers make batting treacherous on these surfaces. You require lots of luck: win the toss, bowl first, wins the game. How can that make for a fair contest?”
I will have to agree with Boycott here when he says that the counties lose lot of revenue. Cricket in England us unlike here in India. In India, the state associations are paid by the BCCI whereas in the UK, the counties generate the income that is needed to run the game. Gate receipts are an important part of that. If a game doesn’t last the full distance, they stand to lose a lot of money. The very survival of the game itself is threatened.
Test cricket is a dying form of the game and such short games will not help improve the finances. Moreover, the stands in the UK are pretty small. The capacity is hardly around 25K mark. Not a lot by any standards. Even the Indian grounds accommodate more than that. Australian grounds, you don’t even want to ask.
There is the small matter of winning
Though I can sympathise with the counties and can understand Boycott’s views, there is the question of the country winning. England are not the same gracious hosts of the past. Up until the new millennium, any tour of England will be a long one. There used to be long delays between Tests. The visiting team is usually treated to a lot of games against various counties. Both before the test series and during the test series. As a result, the opponents were able to adjust to the conditions and the pitches a lot better.
Towards the beginning of the century, there were lot of discussion in the English media about how their team are not given the same amount of games while touring abroad and why should they be such gracious hosts? Hence, the ECB removed all the practise games between the Tests. Anyway, these games were unobtrusive. Bereft of practise games, the adversary was slightly undercooked during the Tests. It is directly led to them not performing in the games which has resulted in shorter games. England put winning above the benefit of the counties. Never in history have England been so dominant in their own country. Nowadays, winning in England is among the hardest. On par with Australia, India and South Africa.
Boycott talks about the pitches
He further writes that the pitches are not of good quality and that it does not give the batsmen any chance to score runs. Inorder to survive on such pitches, the batsmen will have to be technically sound. A Dravid or Tendulkar or some of the past Australian greats will be able to survive on such pitches. The pitches are akin to the spinning tracks of the sub-continent where only the batsman with good technique can thrive. On pitches with pace and bounce, alongwith technique, the batsmen will also have to be brave.
Rahul’s whining
“No one is perfect. No one in that dressing room is perfect. Everyone is working towards something. Everyone has a certain role to do. Obviously, strike rates are taken at an overall basis. You never see when that batsman has played at a certain strike rate, whether it was important for him to play at 200 strike rate or if the team could have still won playing at 100-120 strike rate. So these are the things that not everybody analyses. Or if you look at it, it looks slow.
“Yes, it is something that I am working at. Obviously, the roles that have been defined to each player in the last 10-12 months have been very clear. And the player understands what is expected of him, and the player is working towards it. Obviously, I am just working towards how I can better myself as an opening batter, and see how I can have the most impact for my team whenever I go out to play in the middle.”
He is clearly feeling the pressure of performing as an opener. He is hiding behind the assumption that it is not always necessary to be scoring at 200 strike rate because of his own incapability to do so. The point is that Rahul is someone who is capable of scoring at a high strike rate but is unwilling to do so. He says that he is practising to score at a higher rate but how long will he take to learn? More than 10 seasons of IPL and a lot of T20 games for India and yet, he says he is still working at it. He needs help and soon.
Wrapping up Boycott is not happy with the pitches and Rahul’s whining
Boycott is correct to worry about the counties. Afterall, it is they who pay the players and not the ECB and as such, they will need all the revenue that they can get.
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