ICC chief happy with 'sporting' World Cup pitches

[Firebat]

ICC chief happy with 'sporting' World Cup pitches

International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson on Sunday said he is happy with the World Cup's "sporting pitches", insisting they have provided good balance between bat and ball.

Hosts England posted a tournament high of 397 for six against Afghanistan on June 18, but teams have struggled to get past 250 in the second innings of matches.

The 10-team competition has seen sublime hundreds by the world's top batsmen including Australia's David Warner, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and Joe Root of England.

But the bowlers have made their presence felt with Australia paceman Mitchell Starc leading the wicket-takers chart with 24 scalps in eight matches.

Richardson said the ICC's only direction to the pitch curators was to prepare sporting tracks.

"During our playing days a score of between 220 and 260 was a good score but not now. So our only direction to the curators was to prepare sporting tracks," the former South African wicketkeeper-batsman told reporters in Edgbaston.

"And what's heartening to see in this tournament is how the bowlers have had a say and we have seen some exciting cricket.

"Of course in ODIs you will not see as many close games as in Twenty20 cricket but the matches have gone deep and that's important."

Defending champions Australia were the first team to book their semi-finals berth and now have seven wins from their eight league matches.

The semi-final race opened up after England's shock loss to Sri Lanka last week, with six of the 10 teams fighting for the remaining three spots.

"Even during the South Africa-India game, I believed for a while the Proteas will get a few more wickets but it didn't happen," he said.

"So that's what I mean when I say that the tournament has lived up to expectations and only improved over the years."

Fan violence in Leeds on Saturday marred a World Cup match between Pakistan and Afghanistan as police were forced to intervene after fighting broke out between supporters of the two teams.

Richardson said that incidents like these only make the ICC more "aware" and "prepared".

Meanwhile, Richardson lauded the ICC's work in spreading the game to different parts of the world and also contributing to society as they partnered with UNICEF to raise money for children.

ICC and UNICEF got together for the 'One Day for Children' campaign in Birmingham with a special celebration at the England against India match.

The money raised will support UNICEF's work for children in cricket-playing nations across the world.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/824/icc-chief-happy-sporting-world-cup-pitches-doc-1i26yd1

 

[Ram Shekhar]

Today's pitch looked suspicious.. 59m boundary and flat pitch. Just what England wanted..

 

[pakistani pride]

Today's pitch looked suspicious.. 59m boundary and flat pitch. Just what England wanted..

They will be found out vs NZ.

 

[Ram Shekhar]

They will be found out vs NZ.

Expect a batting beauty against NZ too. England will make sure Boult is neutralized

 

[DHONI183]

I´ve to agree here. It matters not to me whether they assist spinners or pace bowlers more, what matters to me is that the pitches do assist bowlers for a change in this era. All the thrilling matches that we´ve had so far, almost all the credit for that lies with the wickets provided. I´m happy with this, and no complaints if in between all this a flat track is provided here and there. The pitches in the World Cup 2015 were an absolute nightmare for bowlers. So it´s good for the sake of the game to have low-scoring matches. Makes it all the more exciting.

 

[Rana]

The pitches for India and England games have not been the same as those that all other countries played on

 

[Madplayer]

Icc cheap what are you saying

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

The pitches for India and England games have not been the same as those that all other countries played on

both SA vs NZ and NZ vs Pak had a total different wicket at the same venue.

I hope they use a used pitch on wed, things will get interesting..

 

[MenInG]

Another issue that Virat Kohgli brought to light


===


India captain Virat Kohli questioned the playing conditions at Edgbaston after his side lost by 31 runs to England, who kept their World Cup campaign alive.

England - led from the front by Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy - hit 13 sixes in their 337-7 after winning the toss.

Kohli said: "The toss was vital, especially since the boundary was that short - the shortest you can have.

"It is bizarre on a flat pitch. It is crazy things fall in place randomly."

Bairstow hit six maximums on his way to a match-winning knock of 111, but Kohli was unhappy with the uneven proportions at the Birmingham ground.

"If batsmen are able to reverse sweep you for six on a 59-metre boundary there is not much you can do as a spinner," he said.

"One side was 82 metres. They had to be a bit smart in the lines they bowled, but you can't do much with a short boundary."

What are the rules?
The one-day international rules, from the International Cricket Council, state:

Before the toss, the umpire shall determine the boundary of the field of play, which shall be fixed for the duration of the match.
The aim is to maximise the size of the playing area at each venue.
No boundary shall be longer than 90 yards (82.29 metres).
No boundary should be shorter than 65 yards (59.43 metres) from the centre of the pitch.

Kohli scored a fifth consecutive half-century in India's chase but their sole six of the innings came in the 48th over as they never got ahead of the required run-rate for what would have been a record chase in World Cup.

The 2011 champions are still not assured of a place in the semi-finals, although victory against Bangladesh back at Edgbaston on Tuesday will be enough to see them into the last four.

"Every team has lost a game or two here and there. No-one likes to lose but we have to take it in our stride," Kohli said.

"We have to accept it. We are still playing good cricket. The mood is the same in the changing room. We will learn from it and move forward.

"I thought England were going towards 360 and we did well to pull things back. We were happy at the halfway stage.

"If we were a bit more clinical with the bat, maybe the result would have been different."

An International Cricket Council spokesperson told BBC Sport that the location of pitches are determined months in advance of a fixture.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/48820832

 

[cricguru]

Flawed ICC pitches in 2019 World Cup in England

World cup in England is just ruined by bad weather, flawed pitches, and then poorly planning by ICC.

In summary we just noticed.

* Too many one sided matches
* No reserve rain out days
* Huge toss advantage to teams

If you divide WC to two phases. 1st phase was ruined by bad weather, no reserve days, and then poorly doctored pitches produced 350 ish scored.

Second half it started little better when weather started getting little hot due to heat wave, here we have seen pitches which supported bowlers especially spinners in second innings giving fair balance with bat and ball. However urgently when it matters the most we noticed pitches again goes on flawed side and very important phase of tournament produced huge advantage to teams batting first. Since the trend is teams who won the toss and decided to bat first got a huge unfair advantage as there win becomes almost guarantee as 2nd pitches slow dramatically down and chasing become pretty much impossible. Only close matches we saw was BD vs India and NZ vs Wi but unfortunately advantage goes hugely to team winning the toss and batting first.

If this trends continue to remain in knockouts or the third phase of tournament which it looks like to be remains like this then this is will be disaster to the ICC and the World cup. We need balance between bat and ball and nail biting matches not the crazy pattern that is set, win toss and put 300 and you are 80% a guarantee winner. Sad to see 2019 WC has same flaws we seen in 2015 WC. Only better WC pitches we had seen in 2011 WC where we have seen some very close encounters... This is just sad stuff.

 

[cricguru]

@mods please edit this post. I made some mistakes as was typing from my phone.

 

[jnaveen1980]

The designer pitches they rolled out for India threw them off guard.

 

[shah_1]

Some of the pitches have been so poor

You don't want behaviour of pitch to change so drastically. Team batting first have won 60% of the game.

 

[Manager101]

Yeah right, the pak vs Nz and Afg were superb, pitches detoriating into day 5 turners is sporting.

 

[Madplayer]

It is clear as daylight how conditions were manipulated to favour certain teams.

 

[HussainRx8]

What a terrible pitch

The curators should be terminated.

 

[Aman]

I hope England get a similar pitch for their semi, unlikely but hope so.

 

[Chokli]

It's a great pitch, some good old fashioned Cricket

 

[Ram Shekhar]

Expect England to get belters for their semis and finals.. It is very clear England is making terrible pitches for other teams and batting beauties for themselves

 

[Mueez]

The winner of this match will deserve to go to the final.

 

[Mamoon]

Expect England to get belters for their semis and finals.. It is very clear England is making terrible pitches for other teams and batting beauties for themselves

ICC are making the pitches, not ECB.

Also, there is nothing with ICC giving England home advantage. Australia/New Zealand in 2015 and India in 2011 got home advantage as well.

 

[Golden arm]

I hope England get a similar pitch for their semi, unlikely but hope so.

Please see the larger picture

What an excellent pitch to support Indian spinners

ICC and curators should be congratulated

Excellent plan for India in final

Not that they don't deserve to be in final

By far they have been excellent and well rounded team

I guess Curators don't want to leave any stone unturned

 

[Ram Shekhar]

ICC are making the pitches, not ECB.

Also, there is nothing with ICC giving England home advantage. Australia/New Zealand in 2015 and India in 2011 got home advantage as well.

I know that ICC is preparing the pitches but the recent events are very suspicious

 

[hur rizvi]

Never judge a pitch when only 1 team has batted

It’s a fine pitch

 

[jnaveen1980]

NZ is carrying 4 out of form batsmen lol So you can't really say anything about it. It is a big game. KW was in survival mode due to the form of other players.

 

[AdamM97]

Never judge a pitch when only 1 team has batted

It’s a fine pitch

We’ll find out once India comes out to bat.

 

[HussainRx8]

Never judge a pitch when only 1 team has batted

It’s a fine pitch

I think it's very easy to judge. The bounce is uneven and the ball is stopping.

 

[Cricanalyst1]

Never judge a pitch when only 1 team has batted

It’s a fine pitch

^This

 

[Rana]

India have bowled and fielded well. 140 dot balls!

 

[aukhan]

Pitch suits India. Indian sponsors will be delighted.

 

[Babbar]

The winner of this match will deserve to go to the final.

Thank you! Mr Sherlock Holmes!

 

[Madplayer]

ICC are making the pitches, not ECB.

Also, there is nothing with ICC giving England home advantage. Australia/New Zealand in 2015 and India in 2011 got home advantage as well.

India is getting home advantage even here. Look at these pitches.

 

[Boi]

Never judge a pitch when only 1 team has batted

It’s a fine pitch

Pakistan steamrolled England in the CT semi final with a clinical chase batting second but the perception around that game still remains that it was a slow pitch which was difficult for scoring and Pakistan have almost been discredited for their performance in that game when they even proved when batting 2nd that there was nothing wrong with that pitch.

Today’s pitch looks a lot more challenging than what we saw at Cardiff 2 years ago but yes you’re right, it can only be judged after the two innings.

 

[StreetSmart]

ICC are making the pitches, not ECB.

Also, there is nothing with ICC giving England home advantage. Australia/New Zealand in 2015 and India in 2011 got home advantage as well.

Sir can you please explain how come England become invincible as soon as Jonny Whinned in the press conference " These are not the same pitches we played on for last two years " and after that press conference all England got are phatta pitches.

 

[dildilpak]

England is manipulating both the pitches & boundaries since their losses... Not to say they shouldnt have an home advantage, but these are sUpposedly ICC supervised pitches - so wonder how much control the ICC actually has over the curators.

 

[aukhan]

Indian sponsors are happy as well.

 

[JaDed]

Pitch suits India. Indian sponsors will be delighted.

Indian sponsors are happy as well.

Ok bro..

 

[Mamoon]

Sir can you please explain how come England become invincible as soon as Jonny Whinned in the press conference " These are not the same pitches we played on for last two years " and after that press conference all England got are phatta pitches.

I am glad that Bairstow whined and ICC responded. The pitch that they got for the Sri Lanka match was unacceptable.