Andy Gilder wrote:If teams are penalised for producing pitches that favour the bowlers to an exceptional degree, should they also be penalised for producing pitches which prevent a fair contest by having all the life and pace of a veterans 100m race?
Personally I'd say yes. I guess the theory is that counties have an ulterior motive to prepare "result" pitches because even if they lose as many as they win over a season they'll still be at an advantage over counties who have a number of draws. Notts seemed to win at least one Championship during the eighties by doing this.
There is less incentive to deliberately prepare pitches unlikely to produce a result unless it's this stage of the season or later and you're at home to a side just below you in a prmotionor relegation battle, which makes the pitch Hants prepared for the visit of Yorks all the more bewildering as it was really a "must win" game for the home side.
Personally I'd say a points penalty should only be imposed if a pitch produces dangerous uneven bounce, which sounds to have been the case when Warks were recently docked points, but not when Hants were.
This season Surrey have persistently prepared green, seam-friendly pitches, but they've been good pitches with even bounce, and the matches have gone the distance and produced some exciting finishes.
