Trent Boult vents frustration over T20 World Cup pitches

By Alex Powell

Black Caps bowler Trent Boult didn’t hold back in his assessment of conditions at this year’s Twenty20 World Cup, as ball continues to dominate bat in the Caribbean and USA.

So far this tournament, high-scoring affairs that fans expect of T20 cricket have been rare.

Despite the scoring trends of this year’s Indian Premier League, wickets in the USA and West Indies have been low, slow, and overall resulted in contests that clearly favour one discipline over the other.

On 15 occasions at this tournament – so far – has the team batting first failed to post more than 120 runs, more than one run per ball in a completed innings.

And even though bowler-friendly surfaces play into Boult’s hands – seeing him sit sixth on the tournament’s wicket-taking charts with seven in three games – the 34-year-old concedes the state of things at present is not good for the game.

“It’s been a challenge, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “There’s been some very low scores.

“I’ve played cricket all around the world recently. You come up [against] a lot of different conditions. It’s always a challenge, adapting to conditions.

“I think the balance has been far too much on the bowlers’ side. They just haven’t been very good wickets.

“I don’t know what that comes down to. I haven’t been to the Caribbean in a wee while, it was my debut down in Guyana. It was a very slow wicket down there.

“The wicket here has been what I’d call up and down.

“It’s been a good challenge for bat and ball, it’s interesting to see in a world tournament.”

While the West Indies has become known for slow surfaces, the introduction of the USA, and in particular New York, has only added to that.

A hastily constructed venue at Nassau County has seen Sri Lanka bowled out for 77, Ireland bowled out for 96, India bowled out for 119, and Pakistan held to 113/7 in reply to lose by six runs, among other low scores.

In Trinidad, which will host a semi-final, Papua New Guinea were bowled out for 95, while Uganda made just 40 against the Black Caps. Providence in Guyana has also seen low scores, including the Black Caps being dismissed for just 75 against Afghanistan.

Regardless of what happens to the pitches for the rest of the tournament, though, the Black Caps won’t play too great a role in it.

With two losses, and both Afghanistan and the West Indies having accrued three wins, New Zealand cannot progress to the Super Eight stage.

Since the 2015 ODI World Cup, the Black Caps have made the semi-finals at least of the last six global events, a run that’s now come to an end.

While the post-mortem of the failure is yet to begin in full, New Zealand’s lack of preparation looms as a sticking point.

After defeat to the West Indies, white ball captain Kane Williamson refuted suggestions the Black Caps’ golden generation had come to an end.

And while Boult has confirmed this year’s T20 World Cup is his last, the veteran seamer concurs with his captain’s assessment.

“It’s a hard one to forecast,” he added. “There’s a lot of pride in our dressing room in playing for the country.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been off the ball over the last couple of weeks. That’s all it takes to not qualify.

“It’s unfortunate, but there’s still tremendous talent inside that dressing room and coming through the ranks in New Zealand cricket.

“We’re a proud nation, and I think it’ll continue to go that way.”

The Black Caps’ tournament concludes with a dead rubber against Papua New Guinea in Trinidad on Tuesday morning (NZ time).

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission