“Not always nice to go out, face balls jumping up”: Anrich Nortje on pitch conditions in New York

New York [US], June 4 : Star pacer Anrich Nortje, who lit up the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium with his terrific career-best T20I figures to bowl for South Africa, highlighted the difficulties in playing ten drop-in pitches after an entertaining win over Sri Lanka in a low-scoring game of T20 World Cup.

This was the first World Cup game to be held in New York, and the pitch was uneven and the outfield was slow, which made scoring very tough. Even though Sri Lanka only scored 77, they caused South Africa to perspire as they tried to reach the goal.

“I thought the game was great. I thought the entertainment was there. I thought the people were there. It was a brilliant spectacle. It was brilliant to see everyone, to hear the voices, the noise, the cheering. I thought it was a great day for cricket,” Nortje said of the pitch in a press conference.

“It doesn’t always mean, correct me if I’m wrong, there needs to be 20 sixes in a game to make it entertaining. There’s still a lot of strategy that goes into the game. There’s a lot of skill that goes into the game, whether it’s sixes or fast bowlers or spinners, however it might be. So, I thought the game was a brilliant game. It was still a close game at the end of the day, another wicket or two, and things might have been different. We might have been in a little bit more trouble,” said the pacer.

“It is great to be in New York. It’s great to be playing cricket in the US and…we’re excited for what’s to come. We’ve enjoyed the facilities; we’ve enjoyed the sort of getting around exploring as well. So, yeah, it’s brilliant and we are enjoying it,” he added.

In preparation for the World Cup matches in New York, ten drop-in pitches were brought in. Twenty minutes from the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium is a training facility where six of them are installed for the nets, while four of them are located at the stadium used for the matches. When a few of their batters left the practice area the day before the game, South Africa had a rough idea of what to anticipate.

“We didn’t know it [the pitches] is all from the same [time]. We sort of assumed that they’re coming from the same, let me call it, factory. But yes, it was a little bit up and down in the nets as well. We need to train as well as the batters also need to train. It’s not always nice to go out and face balls jumping up, I think you adapt to it on the day and rather work on what you want to in the nets. And that’s why I think one or two of the guys eventually walked out, but they were still batting facing us. Also you don’t want to get hit. And a day before the game, you want to sort of go through your routines as a batter and they were fresh and spicy as well,” Nortje said.

Talking about if the pitches were lively just because they are fresh, Nortje admitted that there was nothing amiss with the pitches

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the wickets. It’s [allowed to be] nice for bowlers as well. We are also allowed to get some sort of assistance. It’s different to what guys have been used to for the last few months or years. There’s a little bit more in the wicket for the bowlers and I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he added.

“When it’s flat, people want to see sixes…so the wheels should turn a little bit somewhere. I don’t know what to expect in the next few weeks. It might get a little bit flatter. It might get a little bit slower, faster. Who knows? I’m not the expert on it, but I think our biggest thing is just to sort of adapt to whatever gets thrown in front of us in the next game again. See in the first over what to expect and try and adjust as best as possible,” said the pacer.

Coming to the match, Nortje overcame the blues of a disappointing Indian Premier League (IPL) season and turned up in national colours with a record-breaking four-fer, the best figures by a Proteas bowler in the tournament’s history, helping them bundle out Sri Lanka for just 77 runs. Proteas did face some hiccups too on a tough batting surface, but they chased it down to make a winning start to their campaign.

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