The Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday rated Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium as “unsatisfactory”, noting that the pitch made it troublesome to attain runs in a latest match between Pakistan and Australia.
Gaddafi Stadium was the venue for the second and third one-day internationals (ODIs) between the Inexperienced Shirts and the Aussies. Pakistan received the low-scoring third ODI by 4 wickets to clinch the three-match sequence 2-1.
“It was robust to attain runs within the low-scoring recreation and this proved to be the decisive think about match referee Graeme La Brooy’s report,” the ICC mentioned concerning the Lahore stadium in a press release.
“The pitch was gradual and low and made scoring runs very troublesome. It didn’t swimsuit a One Day Worldwide recreation as batters needed to spend extra time to settle in. It helped spin very early within the match and continued the identical means all through,” La Brooy mentioned.
The ICC additionally rated the Lord’s pitch in London, which hosted the primary Take a look at between England and New Zealand, as “unsatisfactory” primarily based on Match Referee Andy Pycroft’s report.
“There was loads of extreme seam motion all through the Take a look at and the ball additionally saved extraordinarily low on a number of events. The bounce was variable all through as 16 wickets fell on the primary day and 17 on the second. There was merely an over-balance in favor of ball towards bat attributable to the pitch,” Pycroft mentioned.
Each Lord’s and Gaddafi Stadium pitches “obtained one demerit level every beneath the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Course of”.
The match referees’ stories had been forwarded to the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), respectively, they usually have 14 days to enchantment towards the sanction.
“There aren’t any earlier demerit factors for both venue,” the ICC famous.
The sequence was performed on predominantly low, spin-friendly tracks in Rawalpindi and Lahore, the place the vacationers largely struggled with the bat.
Throughout the third ODI, Australia had been bowled out for 157. Pakistan efficiently chased the modest goal, though not with out a number of anxious moments, because the pitch provided appreciable help to the bowlers and made batting troublesome all through the competition.
Some former gamers and analysts had criticized the surfaces ready for the sequence, saying they had been tailored to favor the house group. Nevertheless, skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed the criticism.
After the Inexperienced Shirts’ win over Australia, Shaheen defended the pitch technique, saying: “When it’s important to play towards such a group like Australia, it’s important to put together such pitches as a result of your goal is to win the sequence.”
“Once we visited Australia, they ready inexperienced pitches as a result of they had been enjoying towards an Asian group and believed these circumstances would favor them. Regardless of that, beneath Mohammad Rizwan’s captaincy, we received the sequence there,” the skipper recalled.
