Conrad, Rohit slam pitch, but one wants neutrality, other offers support

The Newlands pitch understandably dominated the post-match chat after a Test that finished barely an hour into the second session on day two.

“You only need to look at the scores; one and a half days and the way they chased a little target of 80... it’s a sad state of affairs, when you need more luck than skill to survive in a Test match,” said Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad.

“All the ethics and values of Test cricket go out the window, and this was just a slugfest and a ‘slogathon’.”

India won, by seven wickets to tie the series, but their captain, Rohit Sharma, didn’t want to be drawn into criticising the surface. Rather, said Rohit, he was interested in how the International Cricket Council would grade it. “I don’t mind playing on pitches like this as long as people keep their mouths shut about India.”

Rohit said the Newlands pitch was challenging and dangerous, and he was interested in how it would be assessed by the ICC.

“You see, in India on day one, when the pitch starts turning, people start talking about it if there’s a puff of dust. There’s so much cracks here on the pitch. I think it’s important that we stay neutral everywhere we go, especially the match referees. 

“I still can’t believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average, there was a batsman who scored a hundred in that match. How can that be a poor pitch? So the ICC needs to look into it and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that’s quite important. 

“I’m all for pitches like this [at Newlands]. We want to challenge ourselves by playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves on playing on pitches like this. But all I want to say is ‘be neutral’,” said Rohit. 

Newlands’ new curator, Braam Mong, has been in the spotlight for the duration of the match and there is a danger that the surface will be ranked poor by the ICC once reports from the two captains and the match referee are submitted to that organisation’s pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson.

Newlands could face a sanction, similar to the one the Wanderers copped in 2018, and it risked being banned from hosting international matches after the final Test of a series - also involving India - was described as dangerous. The Wanderers’ punishment was only lifted last year. 

“I thought I knew [Newlands] very well. It never ceases to amaze. That was completely out of character,” said Conrad.

“You gather all the information, either through your experience having coached here or players having played here, and stack things up accordingly and then everything goes out the window when you encounter a surface like this.”  

He explained that for a young batting line-up, the best lesson to take from the match was to forget it.

“I had so much pleasure in announcing that [Tristan Stubbs] was debuting and then I apologised to him for giving him a debut on a wicket like this,” said Conrad. “The message [to the batters] is that it is not going to get any more difficult than this.”

Despite his criticism of the pitch, Conrad also said he would seek out Mong in the next few days and put his arm around the groundsman’s shoulders.

“I know Braam. He’s a good guy. And sometimes good guys do bad things or get it wrong,” Conrad remarked.

“This doesn’t turn Braam into a rubbish groundsman, just like us being bowled out for 55 doesn’t turn us into a rubbish cricket team. Five days ago we thrashed them. There will be a lot of lessons for Braam.

“I’ll pop in there tomorrow and have water with him and see what his thoughts are. It’s easy to rubbish things, but you have to feel for a groundsman, especially in Cape Town. He wants to get it so right and maybe the wicket was a little over-prepared.

“Just like cricketers and coaches, you have to take it on the chin, that will be my message to Braam as well, to take it on the chin.”

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