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No venue better than South Africa for playing Test Cricket

Ab Fan

Senior Test Player
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
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28,467
South Africa have once again proved that they produce the best venues and sporting conditions for playing test cricket.

There is always plenty of assistance for fast bowlers- swing, seam, pace and bounce everything is there. Venues like Port Elizabeth also aid spin too.

The outfields are very fast, you get value for runs and runs are scored at very good rate too(3.5-4.0 per over). Compare it to the typical UAE type venues where batsman are scoring at rate of 2-2.5 for whole day.

The drainage system is top class. If this was Trent Bridge, the match would been called off for the day. But even after persistent rainz we had a very entertaining result oriented day of cricket.

The lively wickets of South Africa always produce truly exciting and thrilling contest as we have seen most of the series played between Australia and South Africa in last decade or so.

All hail South African pitches and hopefully, we can have a WTC Final sooner in Johannesburg or Cape Town as they fully deserve to host one.
 
Love watching test cricket in South Africa - still a dream of mine to see a test match in person there but for now happy to stick to TV.

Agreed - those pitches reward good batting and good bowling - out and out pace, seam as well as spin. Simply phenomenal to watch.
 
For me the best Test conditions are found in SAF, ENG and WI (their surfaces have gotten livelier recently apart from the SL Test series in Antigua). There's something in the pitches for everyone.

I also wish to watch a Test in SAF. Not only does the time difference work better compared to AUS/NZL, but the overall spectator experience compared to SC venues like Pakistan is like night and day. It's a more family friendly environment with those grass banks where kids can play cricket and families can picnic.

Whereas in Pakistan fans are forced to sit on those ugly concrete steps in such dusty and polluted environments. I hope some of the more scenic venues like Abbottabad, Gwadar and Muzaffarabad get Test accredited.
 
With the amount of inconsistent bounce seen from day 2 of 1st test and on day 1 of 2nd test, these are actually terrible test match pitches.

But of course, no one will call that out. Only is an issue when certain other teams make such pitches at home :)
 
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