South African captain Dean Elgar criticized an “unsafe” Gabba wicket after his side lost Australia’s first Test in two days in Brisbane on Sunday. The Australians recorded a six-wicket victory over the Proteas late on Sunday after 19 wickets fell on the second day on a green pitch that provided plenty of bounce and movement to both teams’ pace attacks. A total of 34 wickets fell in two days, prompting Elgar to ask the umpires if the ground was safe to play on as Australia progressed to victory.
“I asked the referees how long it will take before it becomes really unsafe,” he said. “That’s where the discretion of the referees comes in – it’s not up to us players.”
After 34 wickets fell over in two days, Elgar described the wicket as a hostile batting course. “The nature of the way it started playing with a seriously steep bounce with the old ball – you sort of hide from nothing as a batting group,” he said, adding that the course developed divots on day one that dried out and further caused problems.
“The divots certainly played a big part in the lateral movement, the up and down and of course the steep bounce, which is quite a bit to face,” he said. “And also today the older ball flew through, which really shouldn’t happen.
As Test cricket struggled for popularity around the world, the South African skipper argued that throws like those prepared on the Gabba don’t help. “You have to ask yourself if that’s good advertising for this format,” Elgar said.
Australian captain Pat Cummins admitted the wicket was difficult but stressed it was the same for both sides. “It was certainly tricky – two days is probably not ideal,” he said.
“There was a lot of lateral movement and a little bouncing today as well. Personally, I don’t mind if the groundsmen err on the side of a greener surface.”
Cummins disagreed with Elgar that the surface was dangerous. “It was fine,” he said. “There were no balls jumping a length or anything like that.”
The International Cricket Council could take note of the quality of the Gabba pitch. On Tuesday, the ICC penalized Pakistan’s Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium for preparing a pitch that did not help its bowlers. The field was penalized after giving up 1,786 runs in four innings of the first Test between Pakistan and England.
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