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Imagine the scene. It’s a cold May afternoon in England. There has been a lot of rainfall in the past few days and the forecast suggests there’s more to come. A small but dedicated weekday crowd hears the faint ring of the coin toss; hairs on their body are awakened by the prospect of the impending World Cup... and the cold weather for which they are clad in traditional British Mac coats. The coin lands, the match referee looks up. The crowd wait in anticipation having no clue about who called what. A young, probably new, member of staff runs to the middle with a microphone just in time for everyone to hear that the South African captain has decided to bowl - an obvious decision. The West Indies captain looks up at the sky and with a look of resignation toddles himself off to the changing rooms.
Out stroll the West Indies openers. “Is that Chris Gayle?!” a confused middle aged man says to his fellow early retiree while pointing at John Campbell. Alas, this is a warm up and the universe boss has no time for that. As Campbell and his partner, Shai Hope, walk out, fans in the crowd stick out their palms in dread as a pattern of light rain falls. This time it is brief. The South African fielders settle, the wicket keeper looking ready, the umpire sways his arm from to signify the start of play and in runs the bowler.
The ball hoops, whizzes and pops in testing conditions. Batsmen walk to and fro with monotonous regularity to and from the pavilion. Partnerships gather here and there while runs can be acquired from spin and less experienced bowling. Despite the conditions, an optimistic crowd feels perhaps the men from the Caribbean have got more than enough in these testing conditions. As Oshane Thomas gets a not so quick and not so elegant single from the last ball, the South Africans look up at the scoreboard with concern. 230 is a big score in these conditions and with a decent bowling line up, this is going to be very tough!
Well imagine my shock when the South Africans aren’t concerned about the badly deteriorating pitch, almost pitch black light and heavy cloud above and score at 11 runs per over and knock it off style!
Seriously what the hell! Do the conditions just not apply to the AI? They massively effect my batting in all forms but it seems like every pitch is a flat paradise to the opposition.
TL;DR - the AI are flat track bullies even when it isn’t a flat track
Out stroll the West Indies openers. “Is that Chris Gayle?!” a confused middle aged man says to his fellow early retiree while pointing at John Campbell. Alas, this is a warm up and the universe boss has no time for that. As Campbell and his partner, Shai Hope, walk out, fans in the crowd stick out their palms in dread as a pattern of light rain falls. This time it is brief. The South African fielders settle, the wicket keeper looking ready, the umpire sways his arm from to signify the start of play and in runs the bowler.
The ball hoops, whizzes and pops in testing conditions. Batsmen walk to and fro with monotonous regularity to and from the pavilion. Partnerships gather here and there while runs can be acquired from spin and less experienced bowling. Despite the conditions, an optimistic crowd feels perhaps the men from the Caribbean have got more than enough in these testing conditions. As Oshane Thomas gets a not so quick and not so elegant single from the last ball, the South Africans look up at the scoreboard with concern. 230 is a big score in these conditions and with a decent bowling line up, this is going to be very tough!
Well imagine my shock when the South Africans aren’t concerned about the badly deteriorating pitch, almost pitch black light and heavy cloud above and score at 11 runs per over and knock it off style!
Seriously what the hell! Do the conditions just not apply to the AI? They massively effect my batting in all forms but it seems like every pitch is a flat paradise to the opposition.
TL;DR - the AI are flat track bullies even when it isn’t a flat track
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