The recently-concluded Australia vs South Africa Test match was severely debated upon as the Gabba wicket in Brisbane was not a good one as per a lot of pundits and experts. The Test match ended in 2 days and a total of 34 wickets fell within the 6 sessions in the 2 days. Naturally, this sparked a lot of controversies. Australian seasoned campaigner Steve Smith now opens up about the wicket at Gabba.
Unarguably one of the best Test batters of contemporary times, Steve Smith has rated the Gabba wicket at Brisbane as the “most difficult wicket” he has batted on.
“As a batter I’d like it to do a little bit less. I think it’s a fine balance just trying to get that even contest between bat and ball. It [the Gabba] was probably the most difficult wicket I’ve played on here in Australia,” Steve Smith told ESPNcricinfo.
“I think there were a few instances that the ball did some stuff that was just out of nowhere. Some balls were sitting in the wicket, making divots, some were zinging through and it was just incredibly hard to bat again. Whether it was unsafe or not, it’s not really my place to judge, but it certainly wasn’t easy to bat,” Smith added.
The apex body of world cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) rated the Gabba pitch as “below average”. Match referee Richie Richardson too was unhappy with the pitch provided by the curators and said that “it was not an even contest between bat and ball”.
Australia next host South Africa on Boxing Day
Australia next lock horns with South Africa in the Boxing Day Test. The match will commence on 26th December 2022 and is slated to begin from 5:00 AM (IST).
Australia had won the 1st Test match by 6 wickets. Travis Head had scored a fabulous knock of 92(96) in Australia’s 1st innings and he deservedly bagged the player of the match award. South African bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada bagged 8 wickets in the game and wreaked havoc with the red-cherry.
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