ICC rates NZ pitches well
The two pitches which came under fire in the recent Black Caps v England test series have been given decent ratings by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Following New Zealand’s 1-0 win in the November-December series, the surfaces at Mt Maunganui’s Bay Oval and Hamilton’s Seddon Park came in for heavy criticism from English media for their docile nature which saw bat dominate ball.
However, in the pitch ratings which the ICC hand out following every international match, the governing body gave the ondebut Bay Oval the highest possible mark of ‘Very Good’, and Seddon Park the second-highest score of ‘Good’. Both outfields also received a ‘Very Good’ rating.
The ICC receives a rating on the performance of the pitch and outfield by the match referee, which for these two fixtures was Javagal Srinath, the former India seam bowler.
Aside from the ‘Very Good’ and Good’ ratings, surfaces can otherwise score: ‘Above Average’, ‘Average’, ‘Below Average’, ‘Poor’ and ‘Unfit’.
In its test debut, Bay Oval featured a very easy batting surface, though consistent hot weather did help it break up and offer spin and inconsistent bounce from late on day four, with the Black Caps going on to win by 65 runs in the final session of the final day.
The second test at Seddon Park had an even more placid track, despite the match in Hamilton being rain-affected, and it petered out to a draw, with only 22 wickets falling.
There’s no further specifics on how the pitches attain their ratings, but there is a clear balancing act for the ICC of wanting the games to go the full five days for commercial reasons, but at the same time try and not compromise on the contest between bat and ball.
Seven centuries were scored across the New Zealand-England series, including two double tons, and the sight of bowlers struggling to take wickets was met with scathing assessments from some correspondents, including Michael Atherton in The Times and Scyld Berry in The Telegraph.
ESPN Cricinfo’s George Dobell was particularly hot in his condemnation, saying surfaces like those would ‘‘kill test cricket’’.
In comparison to the Kiwi pitch ratings, the two recent test series between Australia and Pakistan and India and Bangladesh featured ‘Very Good’ grades for each of the decks in Brisbane, Adelaide, Indore and Kolkata, while the one-off test between Afghanistan and the West Indies in Lucknow, India, was rated ‘Good’.
The last test to receive an ‘Average’ rating was the England v Ireland fixture at Lord’s in July, where the hosts were out for 85 in the first innings, but won by 143 runs after bowling Ireland out for 38 in the final innings, early on the third day.
Hamilton’s Black Caps v
Bangladesh test in February was also rated ‘Average’, when New Zealand made their highest test score of 715-6 declared and bowled the tourists out for 429 on the fourth day to win by an innings and 52 runs.
No pitches in the past year were deemed ‘Unfit’, but two were rated ‘Poor’ – South Africa v India at The Wanderers in Johannesburg in January (India won by 63 runs on day four), and the Australia v India Boxing Day test at the MCG last year (India won by 137 runs early on day five).
Both those matches had former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Pycroft as match referee. He was also on duty in the aforementioned England v Ireland game.