Cricket may be a gentleman’s game involving a bat and ball, but the outcome of the game is the culmination of a myriad of factors and not just the action of the batsmen and bowlers. Elaborately speaking, various factors like weather, soil, pitch, dew, all of these are responsible for determining which team would win or lose. However, among all of these, tone is the most important determinant of the game.
The condition of the pitch is something that everyone takes into account, whether it is a live cricket match or fantasy cricket. As we all know fantasy sports depend on real life sport so for play fantasy cricket you also need to study the field thoroughly before the start of the match to determine which player to choose for your team. The game is most affected by the nature of the ground surface. Because of this, although to make the game more comfortable for players, the courses around the world have been converted to a flatter surface, however, there are still some courses that are the nightmare of many players. Here is a list of 5 deadly cricket grounds from around the world:
1. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo:
This is one of the more problematic stadiums where the ground itself is unpredictable. It especially happened during a warm-up match between India and Sri Lanka where, in contrast to the first two days when the match was normal, the third day became a difficult day for the batsmen as the ball was bouncing in the most strange.
This is what happened in the match against the Sri Lankan Board XI at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium (also known as Colombo Oval). The first two days went smoothly with the Sri Lankan Board XI managing to get 326 runs on the board before being knocked out. However, by the third day, the bounce became quite strange and the ball went up almost to shoulder level, even from a good length! The match was then abandoned just after 0.2 overs of the third day with the umpires declaring the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium pitch unfit for play and dangerous.
2. WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association), Perth:
This is another notorious pitch where on every pitch the ball is injured with an extra jump. Here the players have to play outside of themselves to score in the game. Plus, what adds to the misery the most is that hitting first or second hardly matters on this ground. It is believed that the problem is in the clay of the soil. In early 2000, an interstate match had to be called off when the referees decided the pitch was too dangerous to continue.
3. Sabina Park, Jamaica:
What festers in this ballpark is the unevenness of the surface that results in an inconsistent bounce. There are also cracks in the ground that ultimately make the stadium too dangerous to play. However, what left the field in such a sorry state was sheer ignorance, as even the best of pitches, if ignored by the fielding staff, becomes a graveyard for hitters.
During that Test match in 1998 between the West Indies and England many were left bruised due to the sorry state of the pitch.
4. Fierce Shah Kotla, Delhi:
Although the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi hosts and has hosted many matches, that cannot negate the fact that it is one of the most controversial grounds in existence, having been deemed too dangerous to play on. The criticism began in 2009. The fifth and final ODI of a series against Sri Lanka which India had already won was called off after the ground was deemed too dangerous to play on. The ground was later classified as unfit in the match referees’ report and received a 12-month ban by the ICC. Run by the DDCA and founded long ago in 1883, this was a blot on the earth’s storied history.
Although, this turned out to be the same wicket where Anil Kumble once defeated the Pakistanis to become only the second bowler after Jim Laker, to take 10 wickets in one Test innings. However, it remains to date the most criticized place.
Kingsmead, Durban:
This is undoubtedly the fastest course in South Africa and probably the second fastest in the world after Perth. Playing here even South Africa is not a privilege for home advantage as even fast medium militaries (like from India) draw a lot and worry the strong south. African batting line.