Jonathan Trott Blasts Pitch At Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium After Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup Semifinal Loss

Tarouba (Trinidad): Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott lashed out at the pitch that was used during their T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal against South Africa on Thursday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy stadium. On a strip that offered lateral seam movement and inconsistent bounce, Afghanistan batters struggled against the opposition bowling attack to be skittled out for just 56 – the lowest score in a T20 World Cup semifinal.

Even South Africa struggled too as they needed 8.5 overs to chase down the target and qualify for their first-ever ICC tournament final. “I don’t want to get myself into trouble and I don’t want to come across as bitter or it being a case of sour grapes but that’s not the pitch that you want to have a match, a semi-final of a World Cup on, plain and simple,” Trott said at the post-match press conference.

The former England batter said the pitch took batting completely out of the game. “It should be a fair contest. I’m not saying it should be flat completely with no spin and no seam movement, I’m saying you shouldn’t have batsmen worrying about going forward,” he explained.

“They should be confident in foot movement and be able to hit through the line or use their skills. T20 is about attacking and about scoring runs and taking wickets, not looking to survive.” Throughout the tournament, the venue offered swing and seam to pacers and turn to the spinners.

Tarouba hosted five World Cup games and only once did a team batting first cross the 100-run mark. It was done by the West Indies with a 149/6 against New Zealand which was successfully defended by the co-hosts.

“If the opposition bowled well and got to a position where they bowled very, very well and it’s through skill, then that’s fine and then it’s about adapting to that,” he said. “But once the ball starts misbehaving and rolling, if we had bowled as straight as South Africa had, I think you would have seen a very interesting second half as well,” he added.