‘Want a fair contest between bat and ball’ – Tom Moody and Andy Flower assess ‘dangerous’ Tarouba pitch

Andy Flower. (Source -Twitter/X)

The surface in Trinidad for Afghanistan versus South Africa’s semi-final clash in 2024 T20 World Cup has come under the scanner. The pitch offered uneven bounce which created plenty of difficulty for the batters. Afghanistan were bundled for just 56 runs batting first as their batters struggled against the South African bowlers, who took advantage of the surface and put pressure on the Rashid Khan-led side.

The uneven contest between bat and bowl has infuriated former Australia cricketer Tom Moody. He noted that the batters should not face such a pitch where the conditions are completely against them. He added that teams scoring 200-plus in every game is also not ideal, calling for some balance, which he felt was missing in the first semi-final.

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“You want a fair contest between bat and ball and I’m not advocating that we need to have surfaces that you need 200+ runs. But you need consistent bounce, that is the most important thing. Any batter would hold their hands up and say, that is the most important thing. If you’ve got one ball that’s hitting the toe of your bat or one that you feel like you’re going to punch with your gloves at the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat,” Moody told ESPNcricinfo.

Andy Flower highlights the difficulties batters faced

Former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower highlighted the difficulties that the batters faced in Trinidad. He pointed out that there was inconsistent bounce, which troubled the batters, Flower highlighted that the surface also looked dangerous as the balls flew around the shoulder, neck and chin of the batters, which could have even led to injuries.

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“As a batter, you’re trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat at least. And on this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis at all. I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous. A couple of balls flew off a length around sort of shoulder, neck, chin height of the South African quicks and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the keeper’s head and gloves for four buys. And I was pleased that no one got hurt,” Flower said.