"Head curator Matthew Page admitted he was in a state of shock at how the penultimate match of the series unfolded on a surface that had 10mm grass left on, producing lavish movement for seam bowlers. Despite England's four-wicket win, captain Ben Stokes felt there would be hell on if the Melbourne pitch was produced elsewhere in the world, and the ICC has handed down its second-lowest rating."
"With 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was unsatisfactory' as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point. Pitches are rated either very good', satisfactory', unsatisfactory' or unfit'. If a ground receives six demerit points over a rolling five-year period, it will be hit with a 12-month ban from staging international matches."
The MCG pitch used in the fourth Ashes Test received an 'unsatisfactory' rating from the ICC and incurred one demerit point. The surface retained 10mm of grass and produced lavish seam movement, prompting shock from head curator Matthew Page and criticism from match referee Jeff Crowe that the pitch favoured bowlers. Twenty wickets fell on day one and sixteen on day two, with no batter reaching a half-century. Grounds reaching six demerit points within five years face a 12-month international ban. The match's early finish and lost day-three attendance are expected to cost Cricket Australia about $5 million.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]