bInternational Cricket Council(ICC) The pitches for the first Test between England and New Zealand played at Lord’s Cricket Ground and the third ODI between Pakistan and Australia held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore were declared as poor, giving them one bad point at both venues.
Match referees Andy Pycroft and Graeme La Broy highlighted the concerns of the referees and captains of both teams in their reports.
Andy Pycroft said at Lord’s that throughout the Test match, the ball had a lot of movement, but also dropped unusually low on several occasions. Bounce was not consistently uniform. 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 on the second day, which shows that the wicket has completely tipped the balance between bat and ball in favor of the ball.
Regarding the Gaddafi Stadium, Graeme La Broy said that the wicket was very slow and low, which made it very difficult to score goals. It was not up to the standards of ODI cricket as the batsmen needed an extraordinary amount of time to put on. The wicket started helping the spinners from the early stages of the match and this continued throughout the match.
The ICC reports have been sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and both bodies have 14 days to appeal the decision.
