Like Whitey Deciding The Fate Of 'Soul Train'

In one of Chris Rock's early shows -- Bring The Pain, I think -- he had a short bit about abortion rights, arguing that since the issue is so personal and particular to women, it's hard for a man to have the legitimacy to comment and make decisions about it. After all, "I wouldn't want a bunch of women voting on my balls."

I was reminded of that routine when I read about the Chargers' reaction to the quality of the pitch they played on against Kolkata. Both V.V.S. Laxman and Ricky Ponting called the state of the pitch "shocking," and apparently the curator even came to apologise for it after the match.

Well, yeah, if you ask a pair of batsmen, of course they're going to say it sucks. (It makes them look bad, what do you expect?) Did anyone bother asking Chaminda Vaas, who finished with figures of 2-for-9 in that game, how much of a "shocker" the wicket was for him? Or Mohammad Hafeez, who was doing his best impression of Saqlain Mushtaq for a few overs?


-- (UPDATE: It looks like I'm not alone on this.)

Comments

[mr panic]

A 'bad pitch' makes bad bowlers (or bad batsmen) look good. Mohammad Hafeez is not a good bowler. Therefore, it was a bad pitch.
I'm not saying it wasn't an interesting pitch, but toasted marshmallows would also make an interesting pitch. The proverbial 'sticky wicket'.

[lefty j]

The thing is, skill should be the deciding factor in a cricket game. But with these flat pitches, it ends up being the team whose top edges go for six beats the team whose top edges get caught on the boundary. Personally, I prefer timing and placement as a formula for being dominant over bat weight and wrist speed.

I was shocked when i saw the VVS quote. I mean, if he doesn't get it, who will? I think they should concentrate on making twenty20 pitches conducive to huge amounts of turn, then we can see some real battles. If they're gonna be soft about it, then fine, keep the bounce even, but for Pac's sake, give the spinners something to work with will ya?