=6After heavy criticism from all around, the Newlands pitch on which the second Test between India and South Africa ended in a record time has been rated as ‘unsatisfactory’ by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The venue has received one demerit point as a result.
33 wickets fell in less than five sessions of play in Cape Town with India storming to their first-ever Test win at the venue last week.
The ICC match referee Chris Broad in his report expressed the concerns of the match officials after consulting with South Africa captain Dean Elgar and India skipper Rohit Sharma.
Both the captains felt that the pitch was below standard.
The report has been forwarded to Cricket South Africa, who have 14 days to appeal against the sanction.
“The pitch in Newlands was very difficult to bat on. The ball bounced quickly and sometimes alarmingly throughout the match, making it difficult to play shots. Several batters were hit on the gloves and many wickets also fell due to the awkward bounce,” Broad was quoted as saying by ICC in a statement.
ICC Pitch Ratings Explained
In the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, if a pitch or outfield is rated as being substandard, that venue will be allocated a number of demerit points.
One demerit point: To be awarded to venues whose pitches and outfields are rated by the match referee as unsatisfactory
Three demerit points: To be awarded to venues whose pitches and outfields are marked as unfit.
Demerit points 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 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.
Rohit critical about pitch ratings
While addressing media after the conclusion of the Cape Town Test, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma commented about the pitch-rating criteria followed by the ICC match referees. His remarks came after the Ahmedabad track used for the ODI World Cup 2023 final, between India and Australia, was rated ‘below average’.
“We saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that,” Rohit said in the press conference.
“I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don’t talk too much about Indian pitches, honestly,” he added.
“I still can’t believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average [it was rated average]. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that’s quite important.
“So I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game. Honestly, I’m all for pitches like this. We want to challenge playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves on playing on pitches like this. Uh, but all I want to say is be neutral,” Rohit concluded.
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