The England and Wales Cricket Board has asked counties to improve the quality of pitches prepared for Friends Life t20 matches to ensure that spectators are not driven away by low scoring matches.
ECB research has established a link between low scores and low pitch marks, making Twenty20 cricket less attractive as a spectacle.
Peter Wright, the ECB cricket committee chairman, has now written to all counties asking them to try to prepare pitches that will produce high scoring matches.
“Our analysis shows that where 20 overs are available the average total score decreases as the pitch rating decreases,” Wright writes.
“There is much justifiable concern that if the number of runs reduces the spectacle becomes less and spectators will stay away. I am asking you therefore for 2012 to pay particular attention to Friends Life t20 pitches and ensure that they are prepared to the highest quality that will lead to high-scoring, exciting matches – we cannot afford to drive spectators away.”
Wright has also warned counties that the ECB pitch liaison officers will also be punishing County Championship pitches that have excessive uneven bounce during the forthcoming season.
“The Pitch Document makes it clear that excessive seam movement, turn or unevenness in bounce will result in a pitch being marked ‘poor’,” Wright writes.
“I would, however, draw your attention to the ‘Clarifications’ in the Pitch Document which have been amended to help further clarify what excessive means.
“As you know a pitch demonstrating significant lateral movement makes life difficult for batsmen and if excessive disturbs the balance between bat and ball to an unacceptable degree.
“Uneven bounce can make life not only difficult but impossible for batsmen if excessive. To that end PLOs are likely to show less tolerance to unevenness than lateral movement though this should not be taken as any indication that policy on lateral movement is being relaxed.”
Does this assume that T20 spectators only come to see a ball being thrashed out of the ground?
If so its a rather sad indictment of the intended spectator base.
I agree with your sentiment david but there is no point having T20 unless its going to be a slogfest!
I think low scoring T20 matches are more exciting, The runs are more meaningful and wickets become more important. Surely the perfect solution is a variety of low and high scoring games.
High scoring; low scoring – I still cannot get unduly excited about T20. The game is just not long enough for the traditional elements to occur sensibly – viz the occasional century or fivefor which like home runs in baseball or turnovers in American Football are often indicators how the game may turn out.
This is why I love 40 over cricket so much – it is just long enough for an equitable balance between bat and ball; between scoring runs and conserving wickets.
T20 is not cricket really, rather an excuse for batsmen to take risks they would not normally consider. 30 scored from 15 balls is seen as successful yet in most other forms of the game they would, generally, be seen as wasteful.
Why should a bowler’s performance be seen as inferior to that of a batsman? What if someone takes four wickets all catches at long-on? Captains are restricted on the fields they can set too.
How effective would they be with the bats of yesteryear?
Some of the most memorable cricket matches I’ve played in have been low scoring affairs often played on a good wicket on a beautiful summer Saturday rather than dank April or September weekends. A low first innings score followed by a couple of early wickets helps concentrate the mind of players and spectators alike.
I suppose a low total does mean less playing time though. Less opportunity for commercial exploitation.