By Huzaifa Yousafzai from Lords
London Spirit won an attritional game of cricket against the Welsh Fire as the pitch and conditions at Lords meant their chase of 95 still cost them seven wickets.
Spinners and pacers from both teams found the conditions on show favourable as Spirit all-rounder Liam Dawson discussed the nature of the pitch in the post-match press conference.
“I think most batters on that pitch found that a tough wicket to bat on and as a bowler it was nice to bowl on as the pitch will support the bowlers. (London Spirit) should always win that game but it was never going to be easy because of the pitch”.
Daniel Worrall’s incredible ten consecutive dot balls to start the game highlighted the difficulty the batters faced in this match particularly against the new ball.
“Never in a T20 game, but I’ve witnessed (10 straight dot balls) in four day cricket enough times to know that (Worrall) bowled beautifully by setting the tone and on that sort of pitch he is one of the best in the world,” said Dawson whilst commenting on Worrall’s incredible opening spell.
“I think the balls have swung a hell of a lot and in the two games here the pitch has nipped as well. It has not been easy to bat at all, but you can’t always have perfect conditions and you’ve got to be adaptable.”
Dawson then went on to explain how the pitch assisted his bowling in particular and helped him on his way to figures of 3 wickets for just 10 runs.
“The pitch spun a little bit and so it made it hard to play cross bat shots. The situation of the game allowed you to keep being attacking and you could afford to go for a couple of sixes to that short legside (boundary), so I kept it pretty simple and looked to hit the stumps as much as I could.”
Dawson did admit that despite the circumstances, his side were determined to get their first win on the board no matter how uncomfortable it may have been.
“We didn’t play our best cricket with the bat, but the pitch dictated that. You’ve got to win games ugly sometimes and that’s what we have done tonight.”
Opposition leg-spinner Mason Crane also shared the view that batting was tough and that the toss had a big part to play in the end result.
“When you’re batting first you don’t know (about the pitch) yet so the first 20 or so balls we are trying to find out what the wicket is like, and I guess the advantage of bowling first in those games is that when you go out to bat in the second innings you know what (the pitch) is going to be like.”
He also admitted that “it was a pretty tricky pitch” and despite a low total the Welsh Fire “weren’t a million miles off with the bat really.”
Crane expressed frustration towards the type of wickets seen in the tournament and how the nature of the balls used may have a detrimental effect on the viewing of Hundred.
“I think hybrid wickets need to be spoken about as in my view I think they are terrible. We are using slightly different balls in this competition, and no one really knows quite what they do but it seems to do quite a lot at the start (of the innings). I think both of those things need to be looked at if you want high scoring games.”
