This has been something that me has been thinking for some time now and the big big proof came forward the other day. Even that headline came the other day. I think it was Holding who said it… I don’t remember but on the interviewed was Murali, I think…or was it Jaiwardane…? Considering the number of wickets he took against the Kiwis and the problems he and the other spinners became for the poor kiwis… holding said how he liked the pitch which looked like it was tailor made for Murali. It suited his bowling so bloody nicely….Well….may be it WAS tailor made for Sri Lanka….. Like what we could see today against the Great Wizards of OZ….. the real world champs no matter who wins the cup…..or goes to the finals… There is a small piece of doubt… of conspiracy by the ICC or the pitch makers or whoevers ….the bloody pitches have change… tampered with……

Maybe I sound like a paranoid conspiracy theory nut case… hmmm.. Maybe i AM a goofy paranoid cookie…. Ohk! Ohk! I am that ….. but comon look at the evidence people and then tell me there is nothing to be sankaspad about…

First let us start with the Sabina Park pitch… This stadium was probably the last cricket ground that Bob Woolmer entered (and exited). But in World Cups it’ll be remembered as the ground where Ireland wiped off the Pakis. The hosts, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland played in Jamaica. This pitch was described as “The glistening pitch at Sabina Park has a fearsome reputation – a Test match between England and the West Indies in 1998 was abandoned because conditions were too dangerous for the batsmen and long-time head groundsman Charlie Joseph once said in an interview that he “used to make the roller dance to get the shine on the pitch.” ”

Everyone was calling this pitch suitable more for the Kiwis than the Lankans. It was described as green and bouncy. Even in the pitch report yesterday Holding (i think it was) was saying “We saw the pitch during the Group matches. All that green here.. it’s all gone. This is now a nice flat pitch. I think I saw Murali smiling widely this morning. He must have seen this pitch.” Well it wasn’t exactly that word for word but that was near to what he said. So what happened to the green pitch that would support the Kiwis more…. where did all the green go?

Next up is of course the St Lucia pitch. Remember Ranatunga and others discussing the spinner friendly pitch. I was like they sure wanna have Australia not play in the final cuz they got the Super Eight leader to play in a spinners pitch expecting India or Sri Lanka to be fourth. If you aren’t a cricket follower then to explain that last sentence: India and Sri Lanka play spin better and have better spinners which will make it very hard for the super eight top team.. which would of course in most probability be Australia… And if you aren’t a cricket follower, what the heck are you reading this for?

So spinning pitch=big disadvantage to Australia=less chances of them making it to the final = less chance of the Oz doing a hattrick of World Cup wins

Well now onto the match in hand. India go out of the world cup and Sri Lanka will end up higher than the fourth place. Then South Africa manages to sneak into that slot. Suddenly a few days ago I hear that Michael Vaughan has been advising the South Africans. Well that in itself is a funny thing: Michael Vaughan, the captain of England, which in the day that this piece of news came, had beaten only one test team - Bangladesh came giving advise? Ha Ha… you’d have to be a little funny to listen to advise from him, if he knew so much why the heck did he not win ae. well any way whether the Southies took any advise I don’t know and don’t really care and it doesn’t really matter cuz we won’t ever know. But the thing is the Southies started talking about how despite what every one else was saying, the St Lucia pitch was actually pace and seam friendly. When did the pitch change? What happened to the spinner. Not that the Aussies will be at a disadvantage from a seamy pitch. Against any other team, Oz would be pretty happy with a seamy bouncy pitch cuz they have the best attack in that area and also aren’t that great players of spin too. But the Southies - now they are a lot famous for playing spin-they do it badly. They are the worst of the lot maybe. Oz has got Hogg - who’s doing pretty good this world cup and then there is Simonds, Clark and Hussey who are pretty decent as they say. Southies got Smith and a few others.

So a spinner’s pitch=big disadvantage for the Southies=Big advantage for the great Oz

And tada—–the spinning pitch disappears and a lil green can be seen in St Lucia….

So Am I paranoid or what?

PS: This one I am adding after The Great Oz trashed the big talk Southies. Well the change of pitch negated the disadvantage that the Southies had but the results were no different. That’s another story. But what’s relevant is again this thing someone said on Extra Innings after the match. The much talked about pacey Barbados pitch is now expected to be flat and batsmen friendly and taking away the advantage from the Aussies and handing them a big disadvantage. It is now said to help Sri Lanka….. Nothing much wrong with that except the fact that they change the existing conditions and nature of a pitch to suit the team playing against Australia… that’s not very fair is it???

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