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The England vs New Zealand 1st Test ended in favor of the hosts as they defeated the Kiwis by 115 runs at the prestigious Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. In the 150th Test match held at this venue, the pitch was not sporting as both teams struggled to score runs in both innings, with the 200-run mark being breached only once.
Former cricketers such as Simon Doull, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan criticized the wicket of the first Test match, as 40 wickets fell in 166 overs – one wicket falling every 24.9 balls in a game dominated by the bowlers. It was a graveyard for the batsmen as only one batsman scored a half-century, with debutant Emilio Gay making 54.
Ben Stokes was unhappy with the pitch at Lord’s
Earlier, the MCC had said they were “disappointed” with the Lord’s pitch, which saw wickets fall and England captain Ben Stokes said such “extreme conditions” would not help the future of Test cricket. The pitch had persistent bounce, which caused balls to remain low and hit the bodies of other batsmen, and 24 of the 40 dismissals were either bowled or LBW. In this the entire scenario of the test match came to light.
Earlier, chief executive Rob Lawson had said, “We believe the pitch for this Test has shown more variable bounce than we would have liked. We hold ourselves to the highest standards and are naturally disappointed when a surface falls short of those expectations.”
Lawson said that the hot weather in May and subsequent rain before the Test matches “presented a number of challenges” for head groundsman Carl McDermott and his staff. “However, we fully understand the need to act quickly,” he added.
England vs New Zealand pitch gets demerit points
Now, after several criticisms, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has provided its rating for the pitch, calling it ‘unsatisfactory’, and the venue has also received one demerit point under the ICC pitch and outfield monitoring process for the England vs New Zealand match.
Match referee Andy Pycroft discussed the Lord’s wicket. He said, “There was excessive seam movement throughout the Test and the ball remained very low on occasions. The bounce was variable throughout as 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 wickets fell on the second day. Due to the pitch, there was an extreme balance in favor of the ball as opposed to the bat.”
Talking about the match, England were invited to bat first and they were out for 140 runs. Then, the Kiwis scored 113 runs, after which England set a target of 254 runs and the visitors failed to achieve the target and were all out for 138 runs.
Pakistan vs Australia pitch rated ‘unsatisfactory’
Another pitch that received an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating was Pakistan’s Gaddafi Stadium, which hosted the third ODI between Australia and Pakistan. “The pitch was slow and low and it became very difficult to score runs.”
Match referee Graeme La Bruy reported, “It was not suitable for a One Day International game as the batsmen had to spend more time settling in. This facilitated spin at the start of the match and continued throughout the match.”
