The International Cricket Council (ICC) has declared the pitch for the 2nd Test of the ICC World Test Championship series between Bangladesh and the New Zealand as “unsatisfactory” under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, according to a press release issued by the ICC on Tuesday. The BAN vs NZ 2nd Test was played in Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
David Boon, the match referee, filed a report with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the match officials’ concerns after consulting with the captains of the two teams.
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Following the assessment, the venue has received one demerit point.
The report has been sent to the Bangladesh National Cricket Council (BCB). It now has 14 days to appeal against the sanction.
“The outfield was very good and held up extremely well with the rain. However, it appeared that the pitch may have been under-prepared. It was not hard and was covered in grass clippings on day one,” David Boon was quoted saying in the press release.
“From the first session onwards, throughout the remainder of the match, the bounce was inconsistent with numerous balls bursting the surface. Deliveries from spin bowlers often went over the batter’s shoulder when playing forward and then occasionally stayed very low,” he concluded.
Match woes
The second Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand finished in four days. The Black Caps won the match to level the series after losing in the first Test. The match was an extremely low scoring affair. None of the teams crossed the 200 runs mark in the four innings. A total of 15 wickets fell on day one of the game which was dominated by spinners. Sudden turns and bounce on the pitch made it hard for batters to play long innings, probably prompting ICC to take action.