The Australian cricket team may have won the first test match of the 3-match series against South Africa by 6 wickets but many former cricketers have left no stone unturned in expressing their unhappiness over the pitch as the test match ended in just 2 days of the game. The toss was won by the hosts and they decided to put South Africa to bat first, the visitors found it tough to counter the Australian bowlers as the whole team got out at the score 152 in their first innings. However, giving all credit to the Australian bowlers would be wrong because the pitch was very supportive towards bowlers and it was no less than a nightmare for batters to bat on it.
The Aussies also faced a lot of trouble in batting in their first innings as they could manage only 218 runs, Travid Head missed his century by 8 runs and it was his innings which made a difference between first innings of South Africa and first innings of Australia. South Africa crumbled in their second innings as well as the whole team got wrapped up at the score of 99 and Australia was left with a meager target of 34 runs to win the match. How tough it was to bat on the Gabba pitch can be understood by the fact that Australia lost its four wickets while chasing the target.
The Australian cricketer Brad Hogg was quite angered with the pitch and he took to the micro-blogging site Twitter for taking a jibe at it. He wrote, “Batsman won’t have to worry about showering, changing there underwear and putting on deodorant for dinner on the town tonight in Brisbane. #AUSvSA”
Batsman won't have to worry about showering, changing there underwear and putting on deodorant for dinner on the town tonight in Brisbane. #AUSvSA
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) December 18, 2022
He further talked about the positives that could be taken from this pitch as he tweeted, “The only positive with the Brisbane pitch is both teams have pace attacks that have a similar advantage on it. Exciting and interesting in that aspect as a one off, but don’t want to see it for another 10 years. #AUSvSA #cricket”
The only positive with the Brisbane pitch is both teams have pace attacks that have a similar advantage on it. Exciting and interesting in that aspect as a one off, but don't want to see it for another 10 years. #AUSvSA #cricket
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) December 18, 2022
Few Indian cricketers including Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer also trolled the Australian cricket board and cricketers as they pointed out the fact that if a test match ends in 2 days in Indian subcontinent, they start shouting that it is the end of test cricket and give lecture on what type of pitches should be made but now everyone is silent when something of this sort is happening over there.
142 overs and not even lasting 2 days and they have the audacity to lecture on what kind of pitches are needed. Had it happened in India, it would have been labelled end of test cricket, ruining test cricket and what not. The Hypocrisy is mind-boggling . #AUSvSA
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) December 18, 2022
If a subcontinent Test would have finished in 2 days, the reactions would be quite different to say the least. #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/yvcH0rWweL
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) December 18, 2022
After the match, the South African skipper Dean Elgar makes it clear that he is not happy with the pitch as he says that it is fine if it is challenging for batsmen to bat on the pitch but then it is not a fair contest. He further says that he feels they were fully prepared but the conditions were actually against batting.
On the other hand, the Aussie skipper downplayed the pitch issue and credited Travis Head and Steve Smith’s batting in second innings for Australia’s victory.
The second test match will be played at Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26 Dec and SA will certainly like to win this match in order to make a comeback in the series.
