India’s 82-run World Cup Group A victory against England here under the Kingsmead floodlights on Wednesday prompted many to ask: ‘Are day-night matches decided by the spin of a coin?’
Early evidence suggests that pace bowlers in the side fielding second have a huge and seemingly unfair advantage as extra evening moisture in the air aids swing and livens up the pitch resulting in a big change in conditions between innings.
India captain Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bat on Wednesday; his opposite number Nasser Hussain had better luck with the coin at Newlands — a ground notorious for favouring teams batting first — on Saturday where England thrashed Pakistan by 112 runs.
Although day-nighters account for only 10 of the World Cup’s 54 matches they include some key fixtures including two Super Six encounters and a floodlit semi-final at Kingsmead on March 20. ”There is no doubt that under lights the pace bowlers have an edge,” Ganguly said.
”In day-night games the toss is very crucial.” Against Pakistan, England paceman James Anderson wreaked havoc with four for 29; against England, India left-arm quick Ashish Nehra topped that display with six for 23, the third best return in
World Cup history. England captain Nasser Hussain, while paying tribute to Nehra’s
performance said: ”Conditions did alter, the ball did start to zip off. That’s not an excuse. We were lucky at Cape Town and unlucky today.
”But it’s how you use the conditions that’s important. There was a wind when we were bowling first. The first ten overs were the time to bat on that wicket,” said Hussain of a period when Sachin Tendulkar was building a run-a-ball fifty.
”But when Sachin’s batting like that it’s tough for anyone,” Hussain admitted. The pitches themselves have not been as hard as expected, prompting Ganguly to say: ”These are not 300 plus wickets. 250-260 totals are going to be hard to chase.”
And the captains’ concerns about conditions are shared by Australia coach John Buchanan. So far at this World Cup reigning champions Australia have justified their tournament favourite status with four convincing wins. But earlier this month Buchanan gave the distinct impression he was more worried by floodlights than foes.
”The wickets will play a major role in deciding who who are the semi-finalists and finalists,” Buchanan said.
”We’re talking about bounce, we’re talking about pace, we’re talking about spin in the wicket. We’re also talking about how the wickets are affected by day-night games.
”As we look through Super Sixes we’ve got Cape Town and Durban which host day-night games and one of the semi-finals is a day-night game in Durban. So I think it will be an interesting issue to see the teams that advance and then the types of wickets those teams will play on.”
Day-night games were pioneered in Australia during the late 1970s by media magnate Kerry Packer’s ‘rebel’ World Series Cricket and proved a big hit with both fans and broadcasters down under. – Sapa-AFP