JOHANNESBURG, March 6: South Africa’s inquest into their shock World Cup demise widened on Thursday with fingers being pointed at the state of the pitches at tournament venues.

Both former England Test batsman Allan Lamb, who grew up on the wickets of Western Province, and ex-South African paceman Fanie de Villiers said the slow pitches did not help the hosts.

De Villiers said the type of wickets on which South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 4-1 in November, and Pakistan by 4-1 in December, differed in character from the ones used during the World Cup.

“When you play so called minnows like Namibia and Canada and they reach totals of 200 plus, instead of being bowled out for 120, it’s an indication that the pitches were prepared in a way to favour the batsmen,” de Villiers told SAPA news agency.

“Usually you detect a superior team by the quality of its bowling, which in this case is neutralized by the pitches that were prepared.”

Lamb said he was baffled by the decision not to prepare pitches that tended to favour the host team.

When England played in the World Cup in Australia in 1992, the hosts prepared pitches that were fair, but also bouncy, Lamb told SuperSport television.

Lamb said the wicket in Durban in South Africa’s tied match against Sri Lanka favoured the spinners in Sanath Jayasuriya’s team and added teams like India and others were traditionally afraid of touring South Africa because bowlers like Allan Donald exploited the bounce to make life uncomfortable.

De Villiers agreed but warned that the state of the pitches should not be used as a general excuse.

“I am not suggesting we did not make it to the Super Six phases because of the pitches. The fact that some of the bowlers like Donald did not do sufficient gym work, contributed to our downfall.

“Donald was bowling at Hansie Cronje’s speed — 128 to 129kmh,” said de Villiers, who used to share the new ball for the national team with Donald in the 1990s.

“Your body gets broken down when you play and you need to strengthen it again by doing sufficient gym work and reclaim your speed in this way. It was not done by the South African bowlers.”—AFP