South Africa tried to doctor pitches: Ray Jennings

[BaankeJi]

CENTURION: Former coach Ray Jennings today came down heavily on the South African team management for "trying to doctor pitches" during the recently-concluded Test series against India, saying the tactic nearly boomeranged.

"They tried doctoring pitches in the Tests and it was so close that South Africa almost lost the series. Such pitches won't help because India have a great pace attack. Even the spinners will get assistance from seam friendly juiced up pitches," Jennings' pointed observation is sure to leave the home team red-faced.

For Jennings, the move could have backfired since India now have a potent pace attack.

"Ten years ago, India didn't have any fast bowlers. Now they have so many, starting from Under-19 itself, and the minimum they bowl is 135 which used to be maximum years ago," Jennings said.

Jennings was also furious about selection going all awry for the Proteas.

"The selection is all wrong. They have juiced up pitches but such pitches can assist spinners as we are seeing. They say they are preparing for the World Cup, but if these youngsters fail in 2018, they will be chucked out. Who will you play in the World Cup then," he fumed

"You have to field your best XI at all times and develop a winning culture. You have to take it match by match and series by series, and not look too ahead into the future," he added.

Jennings agreed with batting coach Dale Benkenstein that there is no time to prepare a counter for Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

"There is nothing to be done in such a short time period.

If at this stage, you don't know how to play spin, you just have to live with you incompetency. What is important that you don't freeze up and start eating up deliveries, and then get out.

"David Miller is out of form. JP Duminy is out of form.

That doesn't help and it helps more pressure on an inexperienced batting line-up that can't play spin well. Their only chance is to build on the starts. That's why you don't want to send Amla down to the middle. He knows what he has to do and that's convert those 20-30s into big ones," he explained.

While he believes that Aiden Markram is a captaincy material, he made it clear that he is still not ready for the job.

"Aiden is captaincy material, indeed. I was the one who handed him captaincy in the U-19 World Cup (2014). He has the right values and culture. But he is too young and very inexperienced in ODI cricket.

"You need players to become stable in their game before you hand leadership to them. Look at Kohli. He became captain only when he was a stable batsman."

Jennings is of the opinion that Chahal and Yadav are really good and play Test cricket regularly.

"The wrist spinners are very good. They can even play Test cricket because sometimes overseas you can struggle to take 20 wickets. They are true IPL products. Thanks to IPL, the fear of playing international cricket has gone away from young Indian players.

"In 2004, when I toured India, I could see that younger Indian players were intimidated to an extent. That is no longer the case. Captains like Dhoni and Kohli too have helped change that but largely it's down to the IPL," he signed off.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/spo...hes-boomeranged-for-south-africa-1768759.html

 

[Buffet]

It's done and dusted issue. Not much to talk here Ray.

 

[GrandMaster]

Some sensible comments from Ray.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Doctoring pitches will hurt you in the long run. Just look back 90s cricket in India. As long as Azharuddin/Wadekar were together they had these doctored pitches where even average spinners looked deadly. Only after they left India started having slightly better pitches. After 1998. It took a while for India to become a decent team.

 

[giri26]

Too much talks about the pitches. Lets just get on with the game. Every team prepares pitches to suit their strengths and once in a while there comes an opponent who has better resources than you do and will beat you. India prepared turning tracks for Australia and they almost ended up losing the series. I am sure that will not deter India in playing to their strength. You just have to take that risk. No point in just talking about it too much.

 

[Napa]

India prepared turning tracks for Australia and they almost ended up losing the series.

What???

India won 2 and was in a winning position in the 3rd when time ran out. Australia won just one.

 

[Slog]

What???

India won 2 and was in a winning position in the 3rd when time ran out. Australia won just one.

going into last match, series could have gone either way right?

 

[giri26]

What???

India won 2 and was in a winning position in the 3rd when time ran out. Australia won just one.

The Bangalore test wasn't straight forward. We were bowled out under 200 and ended up conceding almost a 100 run lead. Lyon took 8/50. We could have easily lost that game. Even the target of 180 odd was achievable. If we had lost that test we would have been 2-0 and considering the 3 test pitch was flat with both teams scoring loads of runs, India would have been in trouble. Please don't tell me we did not come close to losing the series. Final result might say 2-1 but it was way more closer than that. A little misstep and India would have been on the receiving end of the result. Australia were on top for most of the Bangalore test until the Rahane-Pujara partnership pulled us out of the woods.

 

[Madplayer]

And sky is blue, water is wet etc.

Ray is just stating the obvious here again. Wont read too much into it. Every country doctors pitches in one way or the other. Its just Australia now who regularly have flat pitches in tests with nothing for the fast bowlers. Even they do it because they have tall fast bowlers who can be effective on it

 

[springbok]

Nothing wrong in doctoring pitches. Everyone does that.

 

[Justcrazy]

Too much talks about the pitches. Lets just get on with the game. Every team prepares pitches to suit their strengths and once in a while there comes an opponent who has better resources than you do and will beat you. India prepared turning tracks for Australia and they almost ended up losing the series. I am sure that will not deter India in playing to their strength. You just have to take that risk. No point in just talking about it too much.

I agree , Teams will play to there strength.

 

[Napa]

going into last match, series could have gone either way right?

Australia series win was already out, what was left was a drawn series or an Indian win. And Australia got crushed in the last Test.

Basically Australia competed only in the first Test. The remaining 3 they either lost or time saved them.

 

[Napa]

The Bangalore test wasn't straight forward. We were bowled out under 200 and ended up conceding almost a 100 run lead. Lyon took 8/50. We could have easily lost that game. Even the target of 180 odd was achievable. If we had lost that test we would have been 2-0 and considering the 3 test pitch was flat with both teams scoring loads of runs, India would have been in trouble.

Lot of "ifs" in your argument. The simple fact is that Pujara, Rahul and Rahane crushed the Australians in the 2nd innings and won by 75 runs. You can of course say "if" Pujara had not scored India would have lost. Similarly I could say "if" Kohli had not failed in both innings India would have won even bigger. Simple fact is that the Indian bowling (especially Ashwin and Jadeja) dominated the Australian batting, who were finally comprehensively beaten, which is all that matters.

Please don't tell me we did not come close to losing the series. Final result might say 2-1 but it was way more closer than that. A little misstep and India would have been on the receiving end of the result. Australia were on top for most of the Bangalore test until the Rahane-Pujara partnership pulled us out of the woods.

The fact that Australia lost comprehensively in spite of Kohli failing in both innings should tell you all you need to know about this Test.

 

[Slog]

Australia series win was already out, what was left was a drawn series or an Indian win. And Australia got crushed in the last Test.

Basically Australia competed only in the first Test. The remaining 3 they either lost or time saved them.

Lol - Australia smoked you in the first test

Also. Going into the last Test it was 1-1. Get your facts right

 

[Napa]

I wrote "The remaining 3 they either lost or time saved them" and you replied.

Also. Going into the last Test it was 1-1. Get your facts right

Your reply does not contradict what I wrote. Your comprehension abilities are weak.

 

[Slog]

I wrote "The remaining 3 they either lost or time saved them" and you replied.



Your reply does not contradict what I wrote. Your comprehension abilities are weak.

You need to start comprehending what you write.

You wrote:

Australia series win was already out, what was left was a drawn series or an Indian win.

You said that 'Australia series win was out' when I ssaid that going into last test the series was not decided. You said this despite that being factually incorrect. Going into last test all three results were possible.

Clearly your English is weak and you can't seem to put thoughts into words

 

[Robert]

England do not doctor pitches.

Bowlers come up who are suited to the wickets, not the other way round.

It's all down to the weather.

 

[springbok]

Doctoring of pitches happen in other sports as well. In the 2002 soccer worldcup in France, Senegal were playing excellent football. When France met Senegal, The French heavily watered the pitch believing that the Senegalese who not used to playing in wet conditions would play badly. Senegal beat France on that pitch

 

[Slog]

Doctoring of pitches happen in other sports as well. In the 2002 soccer worldcup in France, Senegal were playing excellent football. When France met Senegal, The French heavily watered the pitch believing that the Senegalese who not used to playing in wet conditions would play badly. Senegal beat France on that pitch

2002 WC happened in Korea and Japan lol

 

[springbok]

2002 WC happened in Korea and Japan lol

Yes you right.. It was 1998

 

[LastManstanding]

England do not doctor pitches.

Bowlers come up who are suited to the wickets, not the other way round.

It's all down to the weather.

Yes, excessive grass on day one at Lords in 2014 was all due to weather.

 

[HitWicket]

Yes, excessive grass on day one at Lords in 2014 was all due to weather.

And a pitch at Lords that turned quite a bit for a game against Pakistan was perfectly suited to England.

 

[giri26]

Lot of "ifs" in your argument. The simple fact is that Pujara, Rahul and Rahane crushed the Australians in the 2nd innings and won by 75 runs. You can of course say "if" Pujara had not scored India would have lost. Similarly I could say "if" Kohli had not failed in both innings India would have won even bigger. Simple fact is that the Indian bowling (especially Ashwin and Jadeja) dominated the Australian batting, who were finally comprehensively beaten, which is all that matters.



The fact that Australia lost comprehensively in spite of Kohli failing in both innings should tell you all you need to know about this Test.

I am just saying it wasn't as comprehensive as it seems. A 2-1 result in the end when both teams had a chance to win the series going into the final test isn't a one sided series. Australia competed well and they had equal chance of winning the series. I don't what you are trying to prove here. It was not like India won 4-0 and 3-1 or 3-0. It was a 2-1 result which by all accounts was a very close series and things could have gone either way. I am an Indian as well and support the team but I am not going discredit an opposition who did well and had equal chance of winning the series. I am happy to accept that fact.

 

[wrongun]

England do not doctor pitches.

Bowlers come up who are suited to the wickets, not the other way round.

It's all down to the weather.

Why was 2005 all of a sudden hard, bouncy & abrasively dry when you had Flintoff, Harmison & Jones bowling express & looking to reverse swing?

 

[LastManstanding]

And a pitch at Lords that turned quite a bit for a game against Pakistan was perfectly suited to England.

And how does this counter the point I made. Anyways, whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

[Napa]

India prepared turning tracks for Australia and they almost ended up losing the series.

is different from

I am just saying it wasn't as comprehensive as it seems.

I would say that while it seemed possible that India would lose the series after the first Test, by the time the 4th Test began, there was little or no chance of Australia winning the series given the Rahul-Pujara-Rahane trio had started dominating their bowling, and other than Smith, their batsmen were being dominated by the Indian spinners.

 

[giri26]

is different from



I would say that while it seemed possible that India would lose the series after the first Test, by the time the 4th Test began, there was little or no chance of Australia winning the series given the Rahul-Pujara-Rahane trio had started dominating their bowling, and other than Smith, their batsmen were being dominated by the Indian spinners.

Whatever works for you. The reason Australia even won the first test was because, the pitch helped spinners. That was my point anyways. When you prepare wickets to suit your strengths, there will be instances, the opposition will beat you at your own game. That's the risk you need to take. Thanks for missing my point completely and arguing about something which was irrelevant to the actual topic.

 

[Napa]

Whatever works for you. The reason Australia even won the first test was because, the pitch helped spinners. That was my point anyways. When you prepare wickets to suit your strengths, there will be instances, the opposition will beat you at your own game. That's the risk you need to take.

True.

Thanks for missing my point completely and arguing about something which was irrelevant to the actual topic.

You are not welcome