The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Tuesday, December 13, rated the Rawalpindi pitch for the 1st Test between England and Pakistan as ‘below average’.
After opting to bat first, England racked up over 500 runs on Day 1 in only 75 overs. As many as four of their batters – Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook – went on to score hundreds. Zahid Mahmood also bowled the most expensive spell on debut in the history of Test cricket.
England won the match by 74 runs, but Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees reckoned that the pitch wasn’t up to the standards for Test cricket.
“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,” Pycroft was quoted as saying.
“Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be ‘below average’ as per the ICC guidelines,” he added.
