Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has rated the pitches used in the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s in London and the third ODI between Pakistan and Australia at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as unsatisfactory.
Both grounds have received one demerit point each under the ICC pitch and outfield monitoring process.
Match referees Andy Bycroft (Lord’s) and Graeme La Bruy (Gaddafi Stadium) submitted their reports, reflecting concerns raised by match officials and team captains about the nature of the match.
At Lord’s, Bycroft, the pitch was heavily favored by the bowlers throughout the Test, with excessive seam movement, variable bounce and low carry making batting very difficult.
“There was a lot of excessive seam movement throughout the Test and the ball was too low on many occasions. The bounce was variable throughout as 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 on the second day. There was an overbalance in favor of the ball against the batting by the pitch,” Bycroft said.
Meanwhile, Graeme La Bruy criticized the Gaddafi Stadium surface, which was slow, low and too favorable for bowlers, particularly spinners, making scoring runs a difficult task for the batsmen.
“The pitch was slow and low and it was very difficult to score runs. It was not suitable for one-day internationals as the batsmen had to settle down a lot. It helped the spin early in the match and continued in the same way throughout,” La Bruy said.
The ICC sent the report to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), both of whom have 14 days to appeal against the ban. No previous qualifying points at any location.