While Poynter, Fisher, Forrest, Strydom and O’Brien scored centuries over the weekend, other batsmen were not as successful. My weekend was spent in Kentstown, the home of Knockharley Cricket Club, playing in Div. 9 for YMCA on Saturday and umpiring in Div. 7 on Sunday. In the two matches on different wickets, two teams were dismissed for less than 70 runs and a third was 68 for 9. This was cricket that brought back fond memories of the grounds like Mullingar, Man of War, Knockharley, Ballyeighan, Knockbrack, Halverstown, Bagnalstown and Mount Juliet where fluency and stroke play had to give way to basic survival. While over 500 runs were scored at the Vineyard on Monday and produced an exciting finish due to powerful hitting, low scoring games on slow pitches can be just as exciting. I disagree with those who say that such grass pitches do not help young players to develop. They just redress the balance between batting and bowling.
Last year Ireland played in Mombasa against Kenya on a pitch that saw 22 wickets tumble on the first day. Albert Van Der Merve took 11 wickets in the match that was over during the afternoon of the second day. The average score over the four innings was 111. For those who watched it on the web, it was equally exciting to Leinster’s win on Monday due to an eighth wicket partnership which nearly brought Kenya victory. In March of this year, Ireland played UAE in Sharjah on a wicket that looked like a bit of levelling compound laid by a tiler, a grey polished surface in the middle of a brown field. On the first day, it was evident that the four day match would not produce a result – the teams might as well have been playing on a mat. However, Ireland have had to adapt to other conditions and played their T20 World Cup matches in 2009 in Guyana and 2011 World Cup matches in Mirpur Bangladesh. These would both be considered slow pitches. If you visit the ICC Global Academy in Dubai, you see outdoor nets composed of imported soils from the Gabba, the Wacca, England, Pakistan and elsewhere in an attempt to simulate pitches thus allowing players to practice for different conditions. An integral part of the game is the local factor – how each pitch plays differently.
On Saturday, YMCA 4ths travelled to Kentstown with three of last year’s Under 13 All Ireland Cup Winners and three Under 15s for a Div. 9 match. Our young batsmen struggled including some already on Brian O’Rourke’s radar; both Harry Tector (who had scored 70 not out the previous week) and Sam Murphy were out cheaply. James Meier hit an effortless lofted extra cover drive for four on his first ball (a product of winter training with Brian) only to mistime his next ball. Andrew Blair-White, playing his first game for YMCA men’s teams, put the head down, adapted to the conditions and concentrated well. After popping his first ball up, he played with soft hands and batted for 12-15 overs. Unfortunately, he was the only one to do this so the team struggled to 69 all out – we lost the last 6 wickets for 7 runs. Perhaps, we suffered from too many youngsters playing on mats who were unable to master the different conditions. Loose deliveries were played safely and pushed into gaps for singles rather than being dispatched to the boundary. Knockharley in contrast opened aggressively and in the four or so overs before tea, Rasheed hit the ball around the ground. Knockharley raced to a winning position quickly. After tea, our bowling improved and David O’Connor bowled a good spell and beat the bat regularly. Two wickets came too late but showed what a difference another twenty or thirty runs would have made. So the match was won by the home team familiar with the conditions and who attacked the bad ball, while we failed to knuckle down and do what was necessary.
On Sunday, I travelled back to Kentstown ruing our loss and wondering how Bagnalstown would cope knowing that they are a club who played on similar wickets. Knockharley were put in to bat by Bagnalstown. The batsmen played positively not wasting any loose deliveries especially Anthony Bellew, (a perennial performer) who showed no signs of being rusty after the winter. Others did likewise but wickets fell and at 68 for 9, I thought we had got a par score the day before. But father and son, Ralph and Jack Condie put together the second best partnership of the weekend to bring the score up to 111. Bagnalstown batted likewise with Imran Muhammad scoring freely but again they continued to lose wickets before they were all out for 66. This was a good game of cricket which could have gone either way and was not a poorer game due the low scores. At any stage, any batsman who hit a couple of boundaries could have changed the game. Both teams were used to batting and bowling in such conditions. The pitch was definitely not unplayable and players played their shots including Imran Muhammad who blasted one super cover drive that any international cricketer would have been proud of. This type of wicket is not for those who nudge and nurdle the ball.
So over the weekend at Kentstown, three of the four teams failed to bat 45 overs. The batsmen who did best were those who defended well and attacked the loose ball. The skills of soft hands, quick reactions and improvisation were required and it took grit, doggedness and concentration to survive. Bowlers who bowled a good line and length were difficult to play and to score off (Ismail Muhammad 9-2-8-5, Greg Angel 8-2-13-4 and Ralph Condie 8-3-12-4). Two young opening bowlers bowled their 9 overs straight through which does not often happen on a mat. These were wickets where as captain you have difficulty taking bowlers off when they get into a rhythm and where bowlers tend to bowl longer spells than on mats. Bowlers are rewarded for their positive endeavours knowing that the short ball will sit up with for the batsmen to blast to the boundary. As we move towards playing more of our matches on mats (due to necessity and the increased use of public parks), grounds like Knockharley and Bagnalstown are important. They are important for development of young players where batsmen have to be patience, fight hard, show character and discipline. There is nothing wrong with that and I do not see this as being any disadvantage to our young developing players.
The IPL and T20 competitions move in the boundary ropes to give the batsmen a better chance of clearing the rope. The success of each tournament is assessed by comparing it with last year’s tournament in terms of the number of sixes. Sometimes it looks like the only reason the bowlers are there is to allow the batsmen to hit sixes. My advice to clubs like Bagnalstown and Knockharley is to get onto the IPL teams and offer to sell your soil to them. Then, we might have an IPL match with 18 wickets falling for under a hundred and perhaps the reintroduction of the forward defence into the tournament. What’s wrong with gauging the competition by the number of dot balls rather than sixes?
So please don’t write off grass wickets; small clubs should be supported for the volunteers who look after the wickets as it takes a lot of work. It is easier for the larger clubs with established squares with the expertise to hand. But, for the likes of Knockharley, Bagnalstown and others, I am sure it is a battle to keep producing grass wickets. Mats should not become the norm and the argument that a mat is better than a poor grass wicket irritates me: sports administrators should not adjust regulations to reflect the poorest conditions or behaviour.
Nothing that happened over the two matches would suggest that the development of young players would be affected by the wickets that Knockharley provided – apart from favouring bowlers more than batsmen. As Cricket drift towards their long term aim of playing test cricket do not be surprised if Cricket Ireland’s High Performance talent scouts arrive down to grounds like Kentstown and Bagnalstown; to survive 45 overs at these grounds requires the qualities of that will be needed in our test players.
So, if clubs are tempted to put down a mat and neglect the grass wickets, my advice is stay with the grass as it delivers equally exciting matches and cricket with different emphasis than is becoming the norm. Wickets like Knockharley should be treasured as they remind us that the game is not just about the batsmen. The grass adjusts the balance.