Shoot the groundsman... or just give up on cricket?

[Jimmy789]

I dont know about you - but seeing 17,000 Englishmen and Women jumping up and down as Harmison bowled Clarke with a beautiful slower ball hardly seems to be the death of cricket. And to say shoot the groundsman is ridiculous he has provided a pitch where runs have been scored quicks and spinners have both taken wickets, and made for 1 of the most exciting matches in recent cricketing history between the top 2 teams in the world - including 3 ft spin huge sixes, determined and resolute innings, firey and intense contests - as i said before i dont know what match you where watchin but it sure as hell cant be the one i was watching!

[SeanTheSpitfire]

in fairness

i think this thread was started after just the first day, so todays events are irelevant really
BUT i think after the first day, England 407, you can't really complain and i have no idea why the groundsmen should be shot?

although this was before and the twists and turns, it was a great innings from England which proved quite entertainig

[Jimmy789]

Whether the post was started after the first day or not - the notion is still the same that the groundsmen should be shot yet after that first day it proved to be an entertaining pitch which had people gripped to there TV's and the people at the ground enthralled, this does not make todays events irrelevant how ever it has proved that the pitch is worthy of test cricket and Allan Donald said he wouldnt mind having a bowl on it so it cant be that bad

[SeanTheSpitfire]

did i or did i not just say that i felt the first day was entertaining anyway?
i totally agree with you in that respect

[Jimmy789]

In your words - " quite entertaining " - lets be clear it was an enthralling day which has shown the new style of test cricket and brought it to the fore and proved that Australia are not the only 1's capable of scoring at 4 + an over.

[SeanTheSpitfire]

Fair enough
anywho, my thoughts are the same as yours

the Groundsman should be left alone

[Jimmy789]

Good Good - nice half century for you

[SeanTheSpitfire]

Thanks!
wont be long and you'll have yours up

[Jimmy789]

First hour and racked up 9 so far i dont know how to calculate strike rate but that cant be too bad and hopefully a lot more after the 50

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Cricket Girl

Your original point was that this pitch had nothing in it for the bowlers. Do you still think that? Regardless of whether you think the players have done badly, do you still think the groundsman should be shot for producing a one-sided Test pitch?

I'm absolutely delighted at the way the pitch has firmed up as it's dried out... and love the way the surface has crumbled to offer the slower bowlers something to work with... but the fact remains that aside from when the ball has been reverse swinging (which owes nothing to the pitch) the seamers have mostly looked pretty innocuous - a flier to Jones was about the only decent ball that the Aussies seamers managed all day.

I'm still not convinced that it's a genuine results pitch... but with two sides batting as diabolically as these two are... it's hard to tell: by my reckoning there should only realy have been 15-20 wickets so far in the match... as the rest have been due to quite atrocious batting.





Anyone like to hazard a guess as to how many wickets SHOULD hve fallen at this point in the match?