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Questions must be asked about nature of the pitch
For the first time since 1934, a Test match has been completed with 46 wickets falling and not one fifty being scored.
For the first time since 1934, a Test match has been completed with 46 wickets falling and not one fifty being scored. This could be one of the reasons why spectators don't turn up to watch Test cricket in New Zealand, and if such pitches are prepared in the future, not many will turn up to buy tickets for the game.
In total, five days were played in a two-Test series and none but the groundsmen deserved the silverware of the series. The comments and the attitude around the venues just gave the impression that more attention was paid to prove that Indian batting was good enough only on sub-continent pitches — but the track record reveals some other stories.
Surprisingly, people who are supposed to have been brought up on these pitches and have played on them throughout their lives, could not put bat to ball. Of course, Mark Richardson was an exception — he looked an organised player.
And, this had happened inspite of their captain Stephen Fleming winning two crucial tosses on pitches that were nothing but wet, not even damp! Toss can be the key factor in such conditions and I kept my record of losing key tosses intact.
There had been lot of rain in Hamilton before the start of the Test, but there was no reason to leave the pitch so wet. Covers, and adequate ones at that, are provided by the ICC. The match referee needs to ask a few questions regarding the nature of the wicket.
None of the Kiwi bowlers, except Shane Bond, has any pace, but the conditions were ideally suited for the bowlers and they used the conditions very well. At least two unplayable deliveries were bowled every over and we were skittled out for 99 in the first innings.
I thought of a declaration overnight on the second day, but even on the third morning, the pitch was so damp that we realised that even 15 extra runs would be crucial in the second innings. Not surprisingly, we managed to get them out for 94. Zaheer and Ashish bowled superbly, extracting lot of bounce and movement.
We managed to put on 154 in the second innings, but were about 40 runs short considering that the pitch was drying up and the fourth and fifth days would have been the best days to bat.
We lost the Test by four wickets, but it was much closer than it actually showed. We fought hard but could not manage to win the game. It was one of the worst two Test matches I have played. There was nothing much one could write home about and it was one of those Test series where we lost the momentum.
There was nothing that New Zealand gained out of this, because they would not dare prepare such tracks against Australia, South Africa, England or Pakistan or West Indies.
The seven-match one-day series starts on the Boxing Day in Auckland and it will be a good preparation for us for the World Cup, although all the countries will have to announce their teams by Dec 31.
