India wins ICC reprieve on “unfit” Kotla pitch

CRICKET: NEW DELHI, Jan 23, 2010: The International Cricket Council on Thursday ruled that New Delhi will remain a venue for the 2011 World Cup despite a pitch fiasco late last year.

An one-day international between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned after 23.3 overs on December 27 due to what match referee Alan Hurst said was an “unfit” wicket at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

An ICC investigation, the findings of which were released on Thursday, ruled that the “pitch prepared for the above match was dangerous and should therefore be classified as ‘unfit”.

But the governing body accepted a plea from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the Kotla remain a World Cup venue, with an ICC pitch consultant supervising the preparation of the wicket.

The BCCI, in turn, agreed not to host any international matches at the Kotla for the rest of 2010.

The pitch consultant will oversee the remedial work needed to make the Kotla wicket fit to hold World Cup matches, an ICC release said.

The ICC’s general manager David Richardson and chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle studied video footage of the match, and examined the reports of the match referee and the BCCI before reaching a decision.

“We understand that turf pitches, by their very nature, are not and cannot be expected to always behave predictably and that an occasional delivery of unexpected steep bounce, while not ideal especially for limited-overs cricket, is part of the game,” Richardson said in a statement.

“In this instance, however, we are of the view that the frequency of the misbehaving deliveries (on average just more than one every three overs) and the excessive degree of variation had the potential to inflict serious injury to the batsmen.

“Therefore the pitch that was prepared for the above match was ‘dangerous’ and should therefore be classified as ‘unfit’.

“We acknowledge and endorse the decision by the BCCI not to schedule any international cricket at the ground prior to the end of 2010, which is consistent with our own finding.

“While the pitch was unfit for international cricket, it is also worth bearing in mind that it is the first time the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch has been rated as unfit.”

Enough time for remedial work

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said he was confident the Kotla pitch will return to international standards by the time the World Cup came.“We are confident that there is ample time for the necessary remedial work to be carried out ahead of next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup,” said Lorgat.

“It is important now that the work should be carried out and domestic cricket played on the pitch to make sure it returns to the standards required for high-level international cricket.

“Let’s not forget, this ground is one of the world’s iconic venues and it’s imperative it stages matches during what is the game’s biggest tournament,” Lorgat added.

The Kotla, a regular Test venue, is scheduled to host four matches of the World Cup to be organised jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-April, 2011.

AFP