Afghanistan’s head coach, Jonathan Trott, has criticised the pitch at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad as “unfair” following his team’s nine-wicket defeat by South Africa in the T20 World Cup semifinal in Tarouba, Trinidad, on Wednesday. He remarked that the surface conditions were unsuitable for such a crucial match. Afghanistan, making its first appearance in the semifinals of any World Cup, was dismissed for just 56 runs — its lowest total in T20I history.
“I don’t want to get myself into trouble, I don’t want to come across as bitter or sour grapes, but that’s not the pitch that you want to have in the semifinal of the World Cup. Plain and simple.
“It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be flat completely with no spin and no seam movement, but you shouldn’t have bets, worrying about going forward and the ball flying over your head,” Trott said.
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“T20 is about attacking, scoring runs, and taking wickets, not looking to survive,” he added.
South Africa surpassed the target in 8.5 overs to qualify for its maiden World Cup final and will play India in Barbados on Saturday.
The erratic nature of the pitch was summed up by one over from Azmatullah Omarzai, during which two balls merely rose to ankle height and one just exploded from a length.
The venue has produced a series of low scores in this World Cup, including 40 all out, 78 all out, and 95 all out. In one match, West Indies barely defended a total of 149, but not before it had slipped to 30 for 5 at one point.
That said, while Tarouba has not been one of the highest-scoring venues of this World Cup, the surfaces previously used had not come in for such sharp criticism.
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In fact, this entire World Cup has been played on some dodgy wickets, be it the drop-in pitches of New York or the turners in Kingstown. However, South Africa captain Aiden Markram had a slightly different view on the surfaces used. “Yeah, I mean T20 cricket as a whole, you want entertainment,” Markram said. “The wickets that we’ve had throughout the competition have been pretty challenging. Tonight’s wicket was challenging once again. It’s hard to say that a wicket is not good because it can’t just always be a batter’s game, but I think if we reflect back on this wicket, we’ll probably be pretty happy that we’re not playing here again.”
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