Controversy erupts as Andy Flower calls T20 WC semifinal pitch 'DANGERIOUS' after SA destroy AFG

In a dominant display, South Africa decimated Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup semifinal, chasing down 56 with ease to win by 9 wickets. Marco Jansen's brilliant bowling performance of 3/16 restricted Afghanistan to a mere 56, with Tabraiz Shamsi providing strong support with 3/6. In response, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram guided South Africa to victory in just 8.5 overs. Afghanistan's batting collapsed under the pressure, leaving South Africa to cruise into the final with a comprehensive win at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy .

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AFG vs SA: Andy Flower made a huge statement about the pitch being ‘DANGEROUS’ at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy

Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower criticized the pitch used for the T20 World Cup semifinal, calling it "dangerous" after Afghanistan's nine-wicket loss to South Africa.

Afghanistan struggled on a challenging pitch with unpredictable bounce and significant seam movement, collapsing to just 56 runs in 11.5 overs, their lowest T20I total. This performance allowed South Africa to reach their first-ever World Cup final.

While Flower supported Afghanistan's decision to bat first after winning the toss, he noted that the unpredictable bounce made it extremely difficult for the batters to adapt.

    “You can't blame Afghanistan for doing what they did at the toss. They had such an excellent record batting first and then defending with a very good varied attack of their own,” Flower told ESPNCricinfo.

“But batting first was a really tough ask. You didn't know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.”

    “A couple of balls flew off a length around, sort of shoulder, neck, chin height off 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 got hurt,” Flower said.

    Flower, who coaches Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, said visuals of the pitch revealed the cracks and blocks which produced a ‘wild variance in bounce’.

    “You saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of the commentators referenced this being a brand new pitch. Perhaps, they could have used a pitch that had been used previously,” he said.

  “Those shots showed that crazy paving-type effect and that those blocks and the cracks produced this wild variance in bounce. As a batter, you're trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat, at least.”

“(But) on this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis at all. I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous,” said the former England head coach.

    Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody said batting on that pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium was ‘a very difficult challenge to combat’.

    “I don't think you'd want to see it in any game, to be honest with you. You want a fair contest between bat and ball and I'm not advocating that we need to have surfaces that you need 200 plus runs,” he said.

   “But you need consistent bounce — that is the most important thing — (and) any batter would hold their hands up and say, that is the most important thing.”

  “If you've got one ball that's hitting the toe of your bat or one that you feel like you're going to punch with your gloves at the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat,” he added.

    Moody observed presence of thick grass near the cracks on the pitch led to invariable bounce on the surface.

    “You see, this sort of crazy paving, if I could put it that way, where a lot of dense grass was gathered around those cracks — you could just tell that was the thing that promoted the inconsistency of bounce,” he said.

 “It'll be something that they'll reflect on, if not reflecting on already and thinking, well, we've got this wrong,” added Moody.

(With PTI inputs)