Bad Pitches

[BallOil]

Watching a tedious Test played to a draw in roasting heat on a dead Abu Dhabi surface recently, I wondered: will anyone ever receive an official warning for preparing a pitch like this? After Sri Lanka's bizarre first-day capitulation for 197, barely two more innings were completed in the rest of the match as the surface got slower and less responsive.

By contrast, when Sri Lanka recently lost to Australia at Galle in the first match of a three-Test series that they also lost, they were officially warned by the International Cricket Council for a pitch that proved extremely challenging to bat on. Handing down the ruling, the game's governing body described the pitch as "poor," and while Sri Lanka escaped a fine, they will have to submit a report about what corrective measures they intend to take, and the ICC will examine the pitch again. Read More

Is the ICC doing enough? What about the WICB? As we saw in the just concluded Super50 only a few teams were able to make over 200 runs

[mikesiva]

An excellent article!

I always felt that Galle was badly treated by match referee Chris Broad when it got a warning for producing exciting cricket....

But the dead batting tracks of the UAE are perfectly acceptable, especially if they produce boring draws.