Greg Chappell blames ‘homogenous’ home pitches for ‘decline of Australian cricket’

MELBOURNE - Australia’s national talent manager Greg Chappell has said that homogenous pitches had changed the character of the Australian cricket.

“It’s not the reason [for decline], but it is a change in Australian cricket that is disappointing,” Chappell said.

“One of the great things about Australian cricket is that every wicket was different, and therefore we had players who were capable of dealing with them all. They are more alike now, or less different these days. I’d love us to get back to what we had,” he said.

Traditionally, Brisbane pitch assists seamers, Adelaide true, Perth is fast and bouncy, Melbourne gives everyone a chance and Sydney is for spinners. But Perth has flattened out, Sydney spins no more than any other pitch and the Gabba pitch for the first Test was so undeviating that in the last two days, only two wickets fell, The Age reports.

Chappell said there did not appear to any one reason for bland pitches. “The preparation of wickets for one-day cricket has had an impact on Test match pitches,” he said.

“I think the business of cricket has had an impact. There’s perhaps more need for Test matches to go five days from a commercial point of view. Groundsmen had a very intimate involvement with their wickets. It’s less intimate now; there’s more machinery involved. Has that had an effect? It’s hard to say,” he said. (ANI)