Kirsten fumes over Paarl pitch fiasco
Trevor Chesterfield
20 November 1998
Peter Kirsten last night stood up for his battered Northerns Titans
side and fired off a double-barrelled broadside at the United Cricket
Board and Boland over the Paarl pitch fiasco.
As the Northerns executive are expected to meet today to appeal
against the UCB's decision to replay the SuperSport Series game early
next month, the angry Northerns coach said his side deserved to be
awarded the points. He also has the support of the umpires after the
game was abandoned on Saturday because of the cranky behaviour of the
pitch.
It is not the first time a game has been abandoned at Boland's Paarl
venue. The game against the New Zealanders in December 1994 was
abandoned but it is hastiest a precedent as it is the first time an A
Section match has been abandoned.
Kirsten also confirmed that Northerns were prepared to continue
playing the game only Boland's captain Kenny Jackson refused to allow
his batsmen to face the bowling attack of Steve Elworthy, Greg Smith
and David Townsend.
The Northerns coach added that umpires Wilf Diedricks and Robbie
Brookes had in a report on the state of the pitch recommended full
points be awarded to Northerns. This would mean the 10 points for an
outright win the two for batting and four for bowling.
Not one to back away from a confrontational issue Kirsten said the
only way the game can be played is to start off where we left off and
at the same venue.
``Anything less would not be acceptable either to me or Gerald Dross
(the Northerns captain), and would certainly not be in the interests
of my side, Kirsten said last night.
``It is not our mistake. It is not our fault either but here we are
being penalised for someone else's problem.
``If they want us to play the game it must be where we left off on
Saturday Northerns were 273 for seven) as we were in with a good
chance of winning this game.
``It makes no sense at all to replay the game, which is why I have
raised the strongest objections possible known to Richard Harrison
(the NCU president) and Brandon Foot (NCU vice-president). I asked
them to appeal against the UCB decision.''
It is easy to understand Kirsten's frustrations. After two heavy
defeats in the opening A Section matches Northerns found themselves in
a strong position and the coach was confident the Titans would win the
match.
What was also annoying was that the abandonment of the match meant
Elworthy and Smith, who are in contention for a place in the South
African squad for the test series against the West Indies were denied
a chance to bowl.
``We put a lot of hard work into the practices sessions last week and
it was starting to show,'' Kirsten added. ``This sort of exercise has
set us back quite a bit, and we have a game against Gauteng starting
on Thursday.''
Kirsten said the total Northerns had achieved would have been worth
about 360 runs under normal conditions but the outfield was the
slowest he had seen in recent years and the pitch ``was not great for
batting but we did a good job getting the total we did''.
Part of the problem facing Boland's batsmen, it seems, was there was
fear that Smith, the big Northerns left-arm seamer, would extract
extra lift out of the section of the surface which had caused the
erratic bounce after the pitch had been rolled before the start of
play. It was a large patch and forced the umpires and two coaches to
ask for an early lunch.
After lengthy a lengthy meeting the match was abandoned when it became
apparent that Boland were not prepared to continue the game. Neither
Henry Paulse, the Boland president, nor Kevin Bridgens, the general
manager, were present at the game. They were attending a UCB
transformation think tank at a Kempton Park hotel. Bridgens was,
however, critical of the umpires for their decision to call off the
game.
It was his feeling that repair work could have been done to the
offending part of the surface. The ball and bits of the pitch were
flying off the problem patch with the area moving every time the ball
hit the patch.
As it is Boland face a full investigation by a UCB task force headed
by Dr Ali Bacher on Wednesday.
Included in the delegation is Brian Bassoon, UCB's director of
umpiring and ground inspections, Ian Smith, the UCB's director of
finance and administration, and Andy Atkinson, an experienced
groundsman who was once at Newlands and because of his knowledge of
the Boland conditions.
Dr Bacher said separate meetings would be held with the Boland captain
and vice-captain, the coach, Hylton Ackerman, the director of
development, the treasurer, Bridgens, the general manager, the Boland
executive.
``We are going there with an open mind and will be a report on our
findings to the board within 24 hours,'' Dr Bacher added.
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