For the first time in two centuries of cricket at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, it has been rated unsatisfactory and handed one demerit point. The Lord’s cricket ground surface for last week’s first Test between England and New Zealand has been rated as “unsatisfactory” by the ICC, with the venue receiving one demerit point under the the board’s pitch and outfield monitoring process – the first such sanction that the sport’s most famous ground has received.
England won the first Test of their home summer against New Zealand by 115 runs, but the contest only reached the fourth morning of the match because of regular rain interruptions. All 40 wickets fell in the space of 996 balls, making it the shortest completed Test at Lord’s in almost 140 years. Twenty-four of those 40 dismissals were either bowled or lbw.
The pitch used for the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s in London has been rated as “unsatisfactory,” and it has received one demerit point each under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.
Mr. Andy Pycroft said about the Lord’s pitch, “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 overbalance in favor of ball against bat caused by the pitch.”
England and Wales have 14 days to appeal the sanction, but MCC, the guardians of the game and the ones who run the club, has already accepted the blame. Even England captain Ben Stokes had said such “extreme conditions” were not good for the future of the game.
Ben Stokes constantly questions the longevity of the format and how tweaks can be done to keep fans interested for long.
And it is not just Lord’s, another iconic venue- the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore too picked up a demerit point after the 3rd ODI between Pakistan and Australia, that the hosts won 4 wickets. Match referee Graeme Labrooy criticizing the “slow and low” conditions and excessive assistance for spin bowling.
FROM THE ICC RULE BOOK:
One demerit point will be awarded to venues whose pitches are rated by the match referees as ‘Unsatisfactory,’ while three demerit points will be awarded to venues whose pitches are marked as ‘Unfit.’
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.
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