Former cricketer for New Zealand Simon Doull has criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for unfairly interfering with pitch maintenance and rendering bowlers like Mir Hamza completely ineffective.
After batters scored heavily in the Karachi Test, a Kiwi commentator and former cricketer criticised the PCB for mistreating bowlers by constructing batting-friendly wickets in the home series.
The former cricketer argued that bowlers like Mir Hamza have been rendered useless by this flat track since it provides no assistance to bowlers, despite the fact that they compete in first-class matches in conditions that are comparable to favourable ones.
You choose bowlers who excel at that level, like Mir Hamza, who has an excellent First Class record, but they come and bowl on this particular road. It makes no concessions. There is no carry, no seam movement, and no grass on it. From bowling on a green surface with little help and movement to an absolute road, they are transitioning. What are you assuming? If you’re going to build these kinds of surfaces, you can’t expect them to perform at the same level as they do at the First Class level, said Simon Doull.
The former pacer also encouraged the pitch curators to design pitches that aid bowlers in the same way that they aid batters, and warned the officials against getting involved in the pitch curation process.
“Pakistan must begin producing the same wickets for Test matches as they do for First Class cricket,” he stated. Simply put, the hierarchy and those in positions above need to keep their noses out of it. Allow the ground crew to accomplish their jobs effectively. That would benefit Pakistan cricket as well as the bowlers.
In their home series, the PCB has consistently come under fire from fans and analysts for selecting highly batting-friendly grounds that render the bowlers dumb and hapless.
