[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
It's more difficult to bat on rank turners than firm, greenest of wickets with bounce. More than movement, batsmen are in more discomfort from uneven bounce in general, because movement is predictable, uneven bounce isn't. Cricket being a side on game, batsmen's balance is better against side wise movement rather than vertical unexpected movement, because balance comes from footwork - if a ball kicks from a front foot length or shoots from back-foot length .... you know, it destroys the confidence of entire batting line up.
On a big seeming wickets, good batsmen can leave lots of balls on length and can use few other tactics like taking guard at advanced position (Kohli was standing a foot in front at Lord's), which often forces bowlers to shorten length little, or taking guard at off-stick line (so that he can take the impact on pad outside line on playing shots) - result is less movement and often ball raising above bail height, or bowler missing line. If you bring WK up to force batsmen to go back (behind popping crease), it's a major risk of missing/dropping edges. Also, on a green tracks, you need to keep lots of catching fielders, allowing batsmen lots of space for % shots. Once set, a top batsman can play meaningful innings on his batting merit even on the greenest of wickets.
Often rank turners are under prepared tracks and extremely dry from the start (otherwise it won't turn sharp from Day 1) - apart from sharp turn, it results in two more challenges - often wickets start to "kick" or "die" very early, means, from same spot one ball can jump & very next one shoot; batsmen's even best footwork is compromised. Then, a rank turning wicket hardly can get better with duration, it remains same or most cases disintegrates further, therefore no batsman is set on such wicket irrespective of duration in middle, you can't back your defensive techniques to survive.
Besides, on rank turners, batsman can't stand outside popping crease as WKs are up against spinners, and it's extremely difficult to score because of field placings. Often 8 fielders are used at catching spots on green tracks (ENG yesterday put 5 slips, a gully, and a short mid-wicket and a short cover, leaving point open). On rank turners, most captains use 3-3-3 field setting - 3 in close catching, 3 in inner ring or single saving/close catching spots and 3 on line; it's almost impossible to go after spinners against such fielding.
To explain fielding impact, think about this game. What ENG set at Lord's yesterday, on a rank turner, field placings against a right hander for Offie should be like 3-6: a slip, silly point and deep mid-off in offside encouraging him to play inside out drives against viciously truing ball; and on leg side a leg slip, forward short leg, in between deep squire leg on line to block sweep, short mid wicket, deep mid on & a fielder floating at 45 metres on conventional mid-wicket. Same field for a Leggi or SLAO will be 5-4, with 2 men on slip/gully, short cover, sweeper cover, deep mid-off and on leg side a forward short leg, a fine leg at 45 degree saving single ( at catching miscued top edges on sweep, one man on line in between these 2 at long leg and a widish mid-on at 25 metres to encourage batsmen going over the leg side against turning ball - it's near impossible to score even at 3 rate and survive, unless bowlers don't bowl absolute long-hop or full toss.
The 3rd factor is, on green tracks, basically you are killing spin attack - finger spinners might not even come into play (Today, Ashwin came probably after 40 overs); but on dry rank turners, it's a double edged sword because reverse swing comes into equation.
Personally, I don't like any. Playing on "Confirm result" wicket actually makes the game lottery for batting, while it hinders the development of bowlers. Test games should be played on wickets which should need good bowling & catching to get 20 wickets - a close draw is a great result as well. True, firm wicket with good, even bounce and some dry cracks on it so that spinners can come on to play from Day 3 (& bit reverse as well), while batsmen gets full value for timing & placement. In olden days, I liked the Oval & Adelaide wicket most, while from subcontinent old Eden wicket offered everything for everyone over 5 days, including a lighting fast outfield - you can expect 7/8 wickets and 300+ scores in a days game.
