Post by Wicked Cricket on May 28, 2015 13:48:23 GMT
During some research I came across this match report from 2013 when Warwickshire last played at Hove. It brings a smile
because Bears coach Dougie Brown describes the pitch as "the worst kind" or as the local 'Birmingham Mail' reports,
"The match had long been consigned to a draw by a pitch so slow and lifeless it offered the bowlers nothing."
Brown vents his anger by stating, "It is very frustrating. There were two good teams eager to pitch their skills against each
other which should be a really good spectacle for the crowd but they never had a chance. It was the worst sort of pitch. When
you get bowlers of the pace of Chris Wright and Boyd Rankin charging in and getting absolutely nothing out of it then you know
it’s not right."
He adds, “It was an horrendous cricket pitch which negated the talents of the players and meant there was never a chance
of a result.”
Now turn the clock forward two years and we have the Warwickshire players chuntering in their dressing-room that the
pitch is 'too dangerous to play on' after Tim Ambrose was hit on the helmet, Westwood gained a nasty finger injury and the worst
casualty, Chris Wright, who was hit on the chin and blood splattered all over his shirt and jumper. Wright explains to journo Lizzy
Ammon, "It is up and down. Mainly up. I got a bumper that went down. When bowlers hit a length it seams a foot." Ammon
tweets later, "No one wants flat dull ones but if the batsmen can't really trust the bounce it's not really a fair contest is it?" Adding,
"Earlier in the season a second XI match was abandoned at Hove, then the pitch v Middx deemed "below average" and now this one."
To be fair to Brown, his mouth is sealed this time and only comments, "The pitch was difficult... it was good to bowl on and we just
fell a bit short."
All one can say is groundsman Andy Mackay is another Sussex miracle worker when in just two years he can produce an exact opposite
pitch.
2013
www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/cricket/warwickshire-ccc-dougie-brown-slates-3410909
2015
www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/cricket/dougie-brown-sussex-were-taking-9336765
because Bears coach Dougie Brown describes the pitch as "the worst kind" or as the local 'Birmingham Mail' reports,
"The match had long been consigned to a draw by a pitch so slow and lifeless it offered the bowlers nothing."
Brown vents his anger by stating, "It is very frustrating. There were two good teams eager to pitch their skills against each
other which should be a really good spectacle for the crowd but they never had a chance. It was the worst sort of pitch. When
you get bowlers of the pace of Chris Wright and Boyd Rankin charging in and getting absolutely nothing out of it then you know
it’s not right."
He adds, “It was an horrendous cricket pitch which negated the talents of the players and meant there was never a chance
of a result.”
Now turn the clock forward two years and we have the Warwickshire players chuntering in their dressing-room that the
pitch is 'too dangerous to play on' after Tim Ambrose was hit on the helmet, Westwood gained a nasty finger injury and the worst
casualty, Chris Wright, who was hit on the chin and blood splattered all over his shirt and jumper. Wright explains to journo Lizzy
Ammon, "It is up and down. Mainly up. I got a bumper that went down. When bowlers hit a length it seams a foot." Ammon
tweets later, "No one wants flat dull ones but if the batsmen can't really trust the bounce it's not really a fair contest is it?" Adding,
"Earlier in the season a second XI match was abandoned at Hove, then the pitch v Middx deemed "below average" and now this one."
To be fair to Brown, his mouth is sealed this time and only comments, "The pitch was difficult... it was good to bowl on and we just
fell a bit short."
All one can say is groundsman Andy Mackay is another Sussex miracle worker when in just two years he can produce an exact opposite
pitch.
2013
www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/cricket/warwickshire-ccc-dougie-brown-slates-3410909
2015
www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/cricket/dougie-brown-sussex-were-taking-9336765
