Daily Times

LAHORE: Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees has rated the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch that was used for the first match of the ICC World Test Championship series between Pakistan and England as “below average” and the venue has received one demerit point under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

According to a statement of the ICC mad available here on Tuesday, this is the second demerit point for the venue after the pitch used for the first Test between Pakistan and Australia in March this year was also rated as “below average.”

Pycroft said: “It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler. That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals. The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match. “Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be “below average” as per the ICC guidelines.”

Pycroft’s report has been forwarded to the Pakistan Cricket Board, said the ICC statement. In the revised ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, which was introduced on 4 January 2018, if a pitch or outfield is rated as being substandard, that venue will be allocated a number of demerit points.

One demerit point will be awarded to venues whose pitches are rated by the match referees as below average, while three and five demerit points will be awarded to venues whose pitches are marked as poor and unfit, respectively.

No demerit point will be awarded when the outfield is rated as below average, but two and five demerit points will be awarded to venues whose outfields are marked as poor and unfit, respectively.

Demerit points will remain active for a rolling five-year period. When a venue accumulates five 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 10 demerit points.