Test Match Special commentators Stephen Finn and Alex Hartley have criticised the “terrible” pitch used for the T20 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan in Trinidad.
Afghanistan batted first at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy but were bowled out for 56 – their lowest score in a T20 World Cup semi-final.
South Africa emerged victorious after losing just one wicket in 8.5 overs after a pitch with extremely unstable bounce made it difficult for their batsmen.
“It was a really bad game,” former England seamer Finn told TMS. “The state of the pitch deteriorated and it just wasn’t a spectacular T20 game.”
“It would have been entertaining on the fifth day of a Test match, but as a T20 it didn’t live up to expectations.”
“We would love to see an evenly matched game. This pitch has taken batting completely out of the game,” added England World Cup winner Hartley.
“It’s a really bad situation.”
Afghanistan, playing in a World Cup semi-final for the first time, ended up with their lowest score in T20 games when two balls slipped at ankle height in Asmatullah Omarzai’s first over, followed by one that rocketed over long on.
Cricviz data also shows that there was a fair amount of lateral movement for fast bowlers, with an average deviation of 0.88° off the seam being the fourth-highest across all matches in the tournament so far. The venue itself ranks first in the entire tournament for swing and seam on fast bowlers, and second for turn on spinners.
“There will definitely be talk about the pitch because it’s the worst I’ve seen this World Cup,” Hartley added.
“I don’t mind 130 people playing 130 people, both teams will be playing with bat and ball, but this is awful.”
During the South African match, Finn added: “I’ve never seen a South African batsman bat with such confidence in where the ball is going to go.”
“So it’s a very unfair competition. It’s interesting, but it’s unfair.”
Commentator Geoff Lemon suggested the state of the pitch could have led to the longer format match being abandoned.