"I thought the game was great" - Anrich Nortje - Cricket Winner

Veteran South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje, who registered his career-best T20I figures and helped South Africa to a win in a crucial match in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024, is not ready to say that a low-scoring game was a poor advertisement for cricket in the US as well.

However, this was the first World Cup match ever in New York, and the pitch conditions came under the radar as an uneven pitch and slow outfield made things difficult. Sri Lanka managed to make only 77 but also made the chase difficult for South Africa as well.

“I thought the game was great,” Nortje said when he was asked if this pitch was good for the game. “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.”

“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.

“It’s great to be playing cricket in the US” – Anrich Nortje

“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.”

However, ten drop-in pitches were brought in for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 matches in New York. And, four of them have been installed at the main venue for the games, and six for the nets at a training facility that is 20 minutes away from the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium as well.

“We didn’t know it [the pitches] is all from the same [time],” Nortje said. “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.”

SEE ALSO: Controversy erupts over T20 World Cup 2024 pitches after Sri Lanka’s 77 against South Africa

While South Africa played Sri Lanka, India also practised on the same pitches in the nets. And, India’s coach Rahul Dravid said the pitches at the nets were much spicier when they first saw it but had settled down a little now as well. Asked if the pitches were lively just because they have not played on here, Nortje said that there was nothing wrong with the pitches.

However, with his figures of 4/7 in his four-over spell, Anrich Nortje registered the best bowling figures by a South African bowler in T20 World Cup history as well. He surpassed his own record of the best figures by a Proteas bowler in the T20 World Cups as well.

Top four best figures for South Africa in T20 World Cups

4/7 A Nortje vs SL New York 2024
4/10 A Nortje vs Ban Sydney 2022
4/13 W Parnell vs WI The Oval 2009
4/15 J Kallis vs Zim Hambantota 2012

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the wickets,” he said. “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.”

“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,” he concluded.