Your thoughts on the Centurion pitch?

[Saj]

Uneven bounce.

Some deliveries flying though?

Some deliveries double-bouncing to the wicket-keeper?

Quite a few nasty blows for the batsmen.

14 wickets so far on Day 1 and counting....

Your thoughts on the pitch?

 

[PakSarZameen]

Quite enjoyable to watch

Not so enjoyable for the batsmen. The ICC might want to have a say on this.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Do SA realize they have one of the weakest batting line up in a very very long time. Probably the weakest ever? They better roll out "Amla friendly" decks.

 

[Shandarchowka]

Very bad pitch. South Africa have dug a hole for themselves though. They haven't expected Pakistan to feed them their own medicine. They will think ten times before giving these kinds of pitches the next time.

Also, the pitch showed Babar is of the highest quality up there in top 5 of the world.

 

[Amjid Javed]

A nice spicy pitch, two poor batting sides. Makes for exciting cricket. Better this then borefeasts on road wickets.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

It's the uneven bounce. Other then that no swing or seam. So once you get set you can score runs.

Just the quality of these bats. But it makes Test cricket exciting.

 

[jnaveen1980]

SA is coming back after 126 & 73 all out against Srilanka lol. Not exactly the pitch they would have loved to bat on.

 

[Hasan123]

No issues. A little something in it for the bowlers but batters can still score runs on this pitch.

 

[ILcricket]

I like the pitch . Beats watching UAE by fair distances .

 

[Dulex9]

It seems like an even contest between bat and ball. So great for cricket.

Some uneven bounce, the ball jumps up, seems spicy.

 

[Rana]

Exciting to see Pakistani scoring at 3-4 runs per over. I would want something like this in the UAE, shorten the boundaries

 

[Ab Fan]

It is actually a good surface to bat on. Just uneven bounce and pace there to tackle.

A hot day today as well and the reason there were so many wickets was due to poor batting from both teams.

We gotta remember both the teams currently are fielding one of their worst batting lineup in many years, SA, in particular.

 

[Rana]

Commentators dont want to admit Pakistan have done well here.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

If you bowl at a good line and length it's going to do something.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Pakistan's issue was that they chose 3 openers instead of 2 and didn't pick Faheem.

 

[Buffet]

Beside uneven bounce, it's fine. Poor batting units from both sides is making it look harder.

 

[Shandarchowka]

Mike Haysman is back guys.. want to see him credit Pakistan... the sore loser never admits it.

 

[Rana]

Haysman back to criticize Pakistan

 

[cricketindiafan]

Makes for a very good viewing. 300-400 team totals have become so rare in last 18-24 months. Toughest era for batsmen in recent memory.

Only thing I dislike is at times such pitches become a lottery.

 

[Shandarchowka]

Makes for a very good viewing. 300-400 team totals have become so rare in last 18-24 months. Toughest era for batsmen in recent memory.

Only thing I dislike is at times such pitches become a lottery.

Eventually teams that show spine win. Like how Curran did against India, ABD against India, and now Babar against South Africa.

 

[Rana]

Does Rameez honestly know if Bavuma is a great sweeper of the ball?

 

[Rana]

good bowling by Yasir

 

[jnaveen1980]

Looks like this is a new ball pitch. Ball loses its sting immediately after pitching. Pitch absorbs lot of speed. Bowling short may not work here. Low bounce, low pace. Full ball , swinging in or out is the way to go.

 

[Plumb]

Could have got more wickets by now. Out lengths are not accurate for tests. very wayward... Compare the line of the Ind bowling trio with ours I am shocked what has been happening with our bowling. Besides Amir, they bowled very full and not consistently on same line

 

[jnaveen1980]

Do Pakistan have old ball specialists?

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan bowlers have the same effect on SA batsmen.

 

[Plumb]

Pakistan bowlers have the same effect on SA batsmen.

Yes scorecard says 127-5 but I really think we could have bowled them out under 100 if we had bowled with better line length. Amir created problem in his first 7 overs and Hasan and Shaheen leaked runs because of not consistent line/length. Hasan and Shaheen needs to spend time in domestic. Abbas getting injured was a serious blow

 

[ARK Rafay]

Do Pakistan have old ball specialists?

Hasan Ali can reverse-swing

 

[Abid Z]

I’m marvelling more at the out field than the pitch. Lightning fast.

The pitch has a little uneven bounce but nothing too dramatic. It’s honestly the kind of pitch where you should just stick to tight off stump line and not be too adventurous. We’ve bowled pretty loose despite what the scoreboard says.

 

[Haroon786]

Uneven bounce.

Some deliveries flying though?

Some deliveries double-bouncing to the wicket-keeper?

Quite a few nasty blows for the batsmen.

14 wickets so far on Day 1 and counting....

Your thoughts on the pitch?

Excellent pitch that's allowed for a great sporting contest with a bit in it for the seamers and also true enough for the batsmen to score their runs very quickly.

 

[AAli98]

Nothing wrong with pitch both teams have garbage batting line ups... eng/Ind would easily score 280

 

[pakistanigoneaussie]

Commentators dont want to admit Pakistan have done well here.

Haysman is awful but the rest are fine

Holding, Mark Nicholas and Pollack are the best

 

[Bilal7]

Great pitch that is more like what you expect from Centurion. More of the same please.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Don't see anything wrong with the pitch. Something in it for both batters and bowlers.

 

[KingKhanWC]

You dont want to see uneven bounce on day 1 or day 2 and 3. So it's not the best test match pitch but it's better than flat decks, at least the paying public are entertained and we are guaranteed a result.

Pakistan have a chance on this deck now.

 

[hadi123]

Makes for good cricket matches!

 

[Amjid Javed]

Its been shown by a couple of batsmen on surface so far if you play straight, not over expansive and wait for the ball you will score runs. The batting in general on both sides has been poor rather then pitch causing most of the havoc.

 

[Abdullah]

We need to keep chipping away and the finish the innings on par. Then it is all about 1 big partnership and we should have a defendable score.
HUMONGOUS first hour in the morning and we need to be right on it, defending the 54 for our lives

 

[Ami]

Result orientated.

 

[Robert]

You don’t want uneven bounce. The batters cannot play forward with confidence and there will be a lot of LBWs as it shoots along the ground.

You want true bounce, where a good bowler gets lift if he puts effort in.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Poor pitch mainly because of uneven bounce. Bounce has to be consistent, whether steep or low. Lateral movement is not an issue but some of the tailenders can get injured very badly if the pitch behaves like this on first day. Off topic but love the lightning quick outfield, value for good shots is a welcome change.

 

[MP2011]

value for good shots is a welcome change.

Yeah, Australian outfields are hideous in this regard.

 

[Varun]

They probably thought a dodgy pitch was good enough to roll through Pakistan and romp their way to easy victory.

Unfortunately it has come to bite them back just as well. They pulled the same stunt in the final test of our tour and lost the game.