JOHANNESBURG - It took Tony Greig just four overs to get off the fence during Sri Lanka's crunch Super Six match against Zimbabwe yesterday.
"I have a message," he told South Africa and its tournament organisers. "Dig up your pitches."
Twenty-four deliveries and it was already clear that what should have been
a cricketing showpiece was being reduced to another cabbage-patch encounter.
Greig, commenting for South African-based satellite channel Supersport, continued to call a spade a spade.
"You will never persuade me that this is a good pitch," he said. "It's not conducive to exciting cricket."
The problem has been alluded to before, but never quite so bluntly.
Many of the World Cup pitches outside the main centres of Johannesburg and Cape Town have been so slow and low-bouncing after a long domestic season that they have produced equally turgid, pedestrian cricket.
"It's like winning Formula One in a Ford Anglia," Greig went on.
Australia have been fretting over the pitch at Port Elizabeth for weeks. Their players almost slipped up against England and New Zealand on its unresponsive surface and must play Sri Lanka there in the first semi-final tomorrow.
Sri Lanka were annihilated by 96 runs by Ricky Ponting's men in the Super Sixes, but are much happier on slow tracks. They will be delighted if the cup organisers fail in their 11th-hour efforts to enliven the Port Elizabeth pitch.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara said: "The tracks have changed quite a bit since the last time we were here.
"The ball was doing a bit more off the wicket, but the wickets have got flatter and, surprisingly, they're also taking a bit of spin. So it's starting to suit our style of cricket a bit more."
India are also enjoying the "sub-continent" surfaces, even if neutral spectators are not.
"They are more or less like Indian pitches," opening batsman Virender Sehwag said. "There is some extra bounce, but there's no significant difference from those back home."
Australia pace bowler Glenn McGrath was diplomatic.
"If you bowl well on any pitch you'll take wickets," he said.
Asked if the St George's Park pitch could turn the semifinal into a lottery, he said: "Maybe to a certain extent, but you don't want to go into the game thinking that way."
- REUTERS
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