DUBAI (Kashmir English): The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday rated the pitches of Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and London’s Lord’s used for the recent matches as “unsatisfactory”.
The rating came days after Lord’s hosted the first Test between England and New Zealand, while Gaddafi Stadium hosted the second and third one-day internationals (ODIs) between Pakistan and Australia.
According to the ICC statement, the venues have also received one demerit point each under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.
“Match Referees Andy Pycroft (Lord’s) and Graeme La Brooy (Gaddafi Stadium) submitted their reports expressing concerns of the match officials and the captains,” it added.
As per the report, match referee Graeme La Brooy said the Gaddafi pitch was slow and low and made scoring runs very difficult.
“It did not suit a One Day International game as batters had to spend more time to settle in. It helped spin very early in the match and continued the same way throughout,” Brooy was quoted as saying.
Similarly, Lord’s Test match referee Andy Pycroft said that there was plenty of excessive seam movement throughout the Test, and the ball also kept extremely low on several occasions.
“The bounce was variable throughout as 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 on the second. There was simply an over-balance in favour of ball against bat caused by the pitch,” Pycroft added.
In a statement, the ICC said the reports have been forwarded to the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), respectively, and they have 14 days to appeal against the sanction.
It should be noted that there were no demerit points against Lord’s and Gaddafi Stadiums before.
According to the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, one demerit point is awarded to venues for an ‘unsatisfactory’ pitch and three for an ‘unfit’ pitch.
“If a pitch or outfield is rated as being substandard, that venue will be allocated a number of demerit points,” the rule states. “Demerit points will remain active for a rolling five-year period.”
“When a venue accumulates six demerit points (or crosses that threshold), it will be suspended from hosting any international cricket for a period of 12 months, while a venue will be suspended from staging any international cricket for 24 months when it reaches the threshold of 12 demerit points,” as per the ICC rules.
