In Australia, if a captain tells a groundsman what kind of pitch to prepare, he’ll be reported: Ali Bacher
28 January, 2018
Ali Bacher says practice in India and South Africa where a groundsman can be told what type of pitch to prepare is ‘unacceptable’.
As the batsmen risked their lives and limbs while batting on a treacherous track on Day 3, The Indian Express caught up with the former South Africa cricketer and head of the country cricket board, Ali Bacher. Bacher was less than pleased with the revenge tracks the hosts have dished out for the series. Excerpts from the interview.
What is your take on the wicket?
There should be a balance between bat and ball, and fair bounce. I watched all the Test matches in India in 2015 when AB was captain, I can recall in two of the Test matches before lunch on the first day, your off-spinner was bowling and turning it square and there was uneven bounce. Not acceptable. Now we come here. I played here for 14 years, and never saw a pitch like this. This pitch was always like Perth, bouncy and fast-paced but even bounce. I think the balance is just for the fast bowlers. To get a 100 here is going to be impossible. It’s favouring the fast bowlers. Now there is no question, whether it’s India or in South Africa, the groundsmen were told what type of pitch to prepare. To me that’s not acceptable.
How was it back in the day?
When I was head of South African cricket, I brought out the head groundsmen from Adelaide, whose name I can’t remember. He was recommended to me as their best groundsmen. He arrived in South Africa and I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, in Australia, if a captain or board official comes to one of their groundsmen and tells them what kind of pitch to prepare, they’ll report you to the board. Not acceptable. You don’t do that. And Australia have got the best pitches for Test cricket. The first morning there’s always a bit of moisture and it’ll help the quicks for 2-3 hours. If you’re an opening batsman and you get past that, you’re on your way because Day 2 and 3 are generally very good batting pitches. Then the wicket will turn a bit in the end. That’s what Test cricket’s about.
This is almost like a curator versus curator battle, in India they make spinning tracks so we will…
I played here 14 years. It would favour the fast bowlers, but the ball didn’t deviate with uneven bounce. Test cricket is not about that. Let me give you the stats. Since 1991-92 when we came back to world cricket, Australia have beat India once in 7 Test series. They have won once and lost 6. India have come here since then, played 7 Test series, lost 6 and drawn one. That tells you a story. Simple, those are the facts.
Is there a way out of this? Should the ICC step in?
Sure, the ICC should have a strong message. If you want to preserve Test cricket, which is so important, matches need to last 4-5 days. This match started on Wednesday, you should have 30,000 people on Sunday. There will be no cricket here. This game’s going to end mid-day on Saturday. So you’ll lose out on 30,000 people on both Saturday and Sunday. Test matches can’t afford to do that. It’s got its challenges with T20 and all that. You got to preserve Test cricket.
This is almost like a revenge series…
I only played 12 Tests, and I played 9 of those here. And never played on a wicket like this. The irony of it is, there’s a drought here. Normally, in Johannesburg, there’s a lot of rain in January, February. That can move around. We are in the midst of a drought here. It’s a dry period.
When you were chief of South African cricket, how did you deal with situations like when the captain wanted a particular kind of a pitch?
When I was playing at provincial level, there was an influence on groundsmen in terms of what pitches to prepare. It happened here. I played 9 Tests here (at Wanderers) and was captain in 4 of them, I never once went to the groundsmen when we played Australia in 1969-70, and said I want this pitch.
There were wickets falling in Cape Town too…
I don’t know what happened in Cape Town. They have a severe drought. I had said the wicket will turn because it’s so dry. The pitch I saw there I couldn’t believe. I’ve been watching and playing cricket at Newlands since 1960. I was a player and then administrator. I have never seen a Newlands pitch as fast and with as much bounce. Never since 1960. What happened there I don’t know. There’s a drought. It should have been a dry pitch and I thought India would win in those conditions. I can’t explain that. Then we go to Centurion. It is normally a good cricket wicket with pace and even bounce. Drought, slow. don’t know, don’t know what happened there.