Surface for series-deciding ODI at Gaddafi Stadium given second-lowest rating by ICC, as has Home of Cricket, meaning England’s last two Test wins have come on ‘unsatisfactory’ pitches
The pitch for Australia’s series-deciding ODI against Pakistan in Lahore has officially been rated as substandard, with the International Cricket Council slapping both the Gaddafi Stadium and Lord’s with “unsatisfactory” ratings for recent matches.
The so-called Home of Cricket in London was handed that label for the first Test between England and New Zealand after the hosts sealed a 115-run win inside four days of a rain-hit, bowler-dominated match.
One demerit point, that will remain on record for five years, was imposed. Any venue accumulating six points over that period faces a one-year ban from hosting international matches.
Lahore meanwhile, which hosted the third ODI between Pakistan and Australia last week, was given the same rating and punishment. It was the lowest scoring match of a series played on square turners, with Australia losing by four wickets after being dismissed for 157.
The surface for the first ODI in Rawalpindi was rated “satisfactory”. The ICC has not published a pitch rating for the second ODI in Lahore. “Unsatisfactory” is the second lowest rating on the four-tiered system above only “unfit”. “Very good” is above “satisfactory”.
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.
“It helped spin very early and continued the same way throughout,” La Brooy said in a statement from the ICC on Tuesday.
At Lord’s, England won a low-scoring contest on difficult batting surface. There was uneven bounce, which notably accounted for Jacob Bethell in the second innings, and prodigious sideways movement off the seam.
“There was plenty of excessive seam movement throughout the Test and the ball also kept extremely low on several occasions,” said match referee Andy Pycroft.
“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.”
Incidentally, it means England’s last two Test victories have both been on substandard pitches; their only victory in the Ashes series last summer was in the controversial MCG Test which lasted only two days and was also rated unsatisfactory.
Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns the ground, attributed the pitch behaviour in part to weather conditions – a prolonged hot spell being followed by heavy rain leading up to the match – and apologised after what became the second-shortest completed Test at Lord’s.
