Ricky Ponting finds use of brand new pitch for Afghanistan vs South Africa semi-final ‘strange’
The pitch at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, which was used for the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday and saw Afghanistan crash to their lowest ever T20I total, has come under sharp focus. In a tournament where pitches in the US leg of the matches came under intense scrutiny for being underprepared, even in the Caribbean leg some of the tracks have been hard to score off. However, in the new pitch used for the semifinal, apart from seam movement, the unpredictability of the bounce made it all the more challenging for the batsmen from both sides.
During the pitch report it was evident that the grass cover would aide movement. And pointing to the cracks on offer, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggested that bounce or lack of it could well be a factor. And it turned ...