You do n't want a World Cup semi-final on that pitch, you say.

Brian Lara Cricket Academy ball comes in for strong criticism from spectators and individuals after madly misbehaving in Afghanistan vs South Africa semi- last

The circumstances under which the second semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup was played were summed up by the first two balls of the fight. The first game essentially rolled along the floor, and the next one reared off a similar size. The angle at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy came in for strong criticism from spectators, but members in the suit had to be careful not to come across as either making mistakes or downplaying their accomplishments, depending on which tent they were in. They ended up grading it in such a negative way.

" I do n't want to get myself into trouble and I do n't want to come across as bitter or it being a case of sour grapes", Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said when asked what he made of the pitch," but that's not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semi- final of a World Cup, on plain and simple. It should be a good competition. Batsmen should n't worry about going forward and the ball flying over their heads because it should n't be completely flat with no spin and no seam movement. You should be comfortable in your legs movement and being able to reach through the line or use your skills.

" T20 is about attacking and about scoring plays and taking innings, not looking to succeed. If the criticism bowled also and got to a place where they bowled pretty, very well and it's through talent, then that's great and then it's about adapting to that. But once the game starts misbehaving and rolling... if we had bowled when right as South Africa had, I think you would have seen a very exciting second quarter as well. South Africa bowled also, used the circumstances, and showed our kids what it's worthy of. But it just did n't go our way now."

South Africa have played in sketchy conditions throughout: become it the unprepared and unknown drop- ins of New York, or the overwhelming spin in Kingstown, or this brute with both extreme uneven bounce and seam movement. Aiden Markram, the South Africa commander, was asked the same question". Yeah, I mean T20 cricket as a whole, you want pleasure," Markram said". The innings that we've had throughout the opposition have been very difficult. Tonight's batsman was very challenging once again. It's hard to say that a batsman is not good because it ca n't only often be a batter's match, but I think if we reflect up on this innings, we'll definitely be very happy that we're not playing below again."

If the winning team makes it sound like it has made it out of a game of Russian roulette unscathed and ca n't wait to leave town, you know something has gone wrong. Tom Moody, speaking on ESPNcricinfo's analysis show Timeout, said this track was not fit for any game of cricket, leave alone a World Cup semi- final". I do n't think you would want to see]this kind of a pitch ] in any game," Moody said". You want a fair bat-ball match, and I do n't think you need 200-plus surfaces, but you also need consistent bounce. That's the most important thing. Any batter will hold their hand up and say that's the most important thing. If you've got one ball that's hitting the toe of your bat]and ] one that you're feeling you're going to punch with your gloves]from ] the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat.

" If you've got sideways movement or swing or spin, that's a different challenge but at least there's some sort of consistency and you can come up with some sort of strategy or method to combat that. Look, I do n't think that was good enough. I actually covered two games in Trinidad at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy ]as a broadcast commentator ] and the surface was pretty similar. You see the crazy paving- if I could put it that way- where a lot of dense grass was gathered around those cracks and you could tell that that was the thing that promoted the inconsistency of bounce".

" As a batter, you're trying to predict where the ball is going to be. At least you want to meet it in the middle of the bat. On this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis".

ESPNcricinfo expert Andy Flower

Andy Flower, also speaking on Timeout, agreed. " Those conditions were simply not good enough", he said. " The pitch was so very, very tough for any batsman to play on. We saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of commentators referenced this being a brand- new pitch, perhaps they could've used a pitch that had been used previously ]in this World Cup ] and therefore you could]go in ] knowing it produces a certain type of bounce, something more consistent and predictable. But those shots showed the crazy paving- type effect, and those blocks and the cracks around those blocks produced the wild variance in bounce and, as a batter, you're trying to predict where the ball is going to be. At least you want to meet it in the middle of the bat. It was almost unavoidable on any consistent basis for this pitch.

" I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous. A couple of balls flew off a length around shoulder, neck, chin- height from the South African quicks. And one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the keeper's head and gloves, for four byes. I was pleased that no one was hurt. We got a similar pitch in New York in the early part of the competition, which was n't good enough for international- quality quicks. Then it came back today, causing a complete mismatch.

In this World Cup, the track at Brian Lara Cricket Academy had previous records of 40 all out, 78 all out, and 95 all out. There has been only one decent contest possible, when West Indies narrowly defended 149, but even in that match they were 30 for 5 at one stage.

Trinidad is home to one of the legendary cricket venues, Queen's Park Oval in Port- of- Spain, but it did n't host a single World Cup match, losing out to this newer, practically untested venue that made its international debut in men's cricket less than two years ago.