Australia skipper Pat Cummins did not shy away from taking a dig at England for preparing flat pitches at home, leading to historic 336-run defeat to India at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Cummins-led side bowled out West Indies for 143 and won the Grenada Test by 133 runs and retain Frank-Worrell Trophy. In the post-match press conference, Cummins was informed about the result of second Test between India and England and the nature of the pitch.
Cummins admitted that he hasn't been following the Anderston-Tendulkar trophy. He wasn't surprised by England preparing a flat pitch for Edgbaston Test and said that the two Tests in West Indies and England are poles apart.
"I wasn't (watching India vs England), probably Marnus (Labuschagne) was, we'll keep an eye on it. Who'd want to be a bowler over there? Well, I wouldn't be surprised (over Edgbaston wicket being the third flattest wicket in English history). Looking at Test cricket his week over here compared to that, looks like two different sports. It looks like it is going to be a good series, 1-1 now," Cummins said after Australia took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Gill wants more assistance for bowlers
The Edgbaston Test pitch drew criticism from Indian captain Shubman Gill who feels that if the surface does not provide assistance to bowlers, the game loses its assence.
"It gets very difficult for the bowlers. Even more than the pitch, the ball is going soft and out of shape very quickly. I don't know what it is - weather, pitches or whatever - but it gets very difficult for the bowlers to get wickets in these conditions. As a team, when you know it is difficult to get wickets and runs are coming easily, a lot of things are out of your control," the Indian captain said.
"I think there should be a little help at least. If the ball is doing something, you enjoy playing. If you know there is only 20 overs of any help and then you have to spend the rest of the day on the defensive, thinking how to stop runs, then the game loses its essence."
Stokes criticises Edgbaston pitch
Ben Stokes was critical of the Edgbaston pitch after their first ever defeat at the venue to India. He likened it to subcontinent conditions which favoured the visitors.
“To be honest, it’s probably ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch as it got deeper and deeper into the game. There was certainly a little bit in it to start off with and I think we exposed that very very well early on,” the English skipper said.
“Then just as it sort of got deeper and deeper, it just became a real tough slug for us and obviously with the Indian attack and the conditions that they’re used to, they were sort of used to and knew sort of how to expose those conditions just sort of a little bit better than us and that can happen sometimes. But yeah, it’s nothing to be too disheartened about. We can take being out-skilled and we’ve certainly been out-skilled this week,” he added.
The next Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy will be played at the Lord's, London, which is set to provide plenty of assistance to the bowlers.