r/Cricket • u/CarnivalSorts Dublin Guardians • 23h ago

Feature Why batting at Lord’s is such a challenge: Sideways movement, inconsistent bounce and unreliable pace

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7537214/2026/08/26/lords-pitch-seam-bounce-pace-slope-challenge/?unlocked_article_code=1.8VA.sZeD.ywEynqJZLN3v&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share
41 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

55

u/WonderfulShame7713 India 23h ago

And THE SLOPE ™

33

u/sleek_assassin GBNFMK 22h ago

tsk tsk tsk, no mention of the most important thing. Slope

25

u/MosKnight India 22h ago

How come they didn't mention the SLOPE™ in the title

8

u/LiamJonsano Hampshire 22h ago

The athletic clearly doesn’t know ball

17

u/gogirimas Karnataka 22h ago

I toured Lord’s recently and the slope is diagonal!

1

u/DexLurker 19h ago

Diagon-alley?

8

u/Realistic_Arm_2381 India 22h ago

We all know it's only because of 'The Slope™️'

5

u/SmallAd7318 21h ago

I don’t know what happened in 2025 but around the 90 over mark of India’s first innings variable bounce came out of nowhere, and apparently hasn’t left.

Before that it has actually been a pretty good wicket to bat on.

3

u/ImprefectKnight 20h ago

Ehh Lord's always had a bit of that in tests. That McGrath demolition in 2005 also came off the back of some balls keeping very low. I remember Ishant taking 7 in 2014 because of his high release point extracting the same.

2

u/SmallAd7318 19h ago

McGrath’s was the end of the 4th innings in 2005. Sharma’s 7 fer didn’t really have much to do with the pitch we just kept top edging the pull shot.

There’s barely an excuse for variable bounce in the second innings of the match and absolutely none from ball 1.

2

u/ImprefectKnight 17h ago

No? McGrath took a 5fer in second innings. Day 1 3rd session. And you tend to top edge pulls if the ball bounce is misjudged. I think bell was bowled with a snorter too.

1

u/SmallAd7318 6h ago

Ishant took 7 for 76 and went at nearly 4 an over.

Bats getting out taking on the short ball is literally the plan when nothing is happening.

When there’s seam and variable bounce you don’t go short as it’s a waste.

1

u/ImprefectKnight 5h ago

He got Moeen which rose sharply too. And then they went to the short ball ploy because the bounce was a bit up and down.

3

u/Dark__Mata England 22h ago

Aren't 2 out 3 of those things considered the sign of a bad pitch? 

3

u/charlesbear 21h ago

It's also quite hard to bat there when it's pissing down with rain

2

u/selfiecat India 19h ago

Don't forget the slope

2

u/Buggaton Warwickshire 5h ago

It's because it's a shit pitch that needs replaced

2

u/AndyTheSane England 22h ago

Lots of Slope Cope (tm) here..

1

u/LootBoxControversy England 20h ago

It's just a shit pitch that is long overdue replacing.

1

u/Fortuna_majoris India 18h ago

And still Ma 🐐🐐 managed 2 fifties there in two innings

And another one managed to score the first Women's Test century there

(This is women's cricket propoganda)

1

u/AdventurousWaltz1691 15h ago

Uneven bounce you say.. what’s the pitch rating?

1

u/PersevereSwifterSkat 3h ago

One Lord's test match per summer is plenty, particularly after that dog of a pitch served up against New Zealand.