ICC rate Newlands pitch for 2nd Test between South Africa and India as ‘unsatisfactory

Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the pitch for the second Test of the ICC World Test Championship series between South Africa and India at Newlands in Cape Town has been rated as “unsatisfactory” under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

ICC Match Referee Chris Broad submitted his report expressing the concerns of the match officials and after consulting with captains Dean Elgar and Rohit Sharma, both of whom felt that the pitch was below standard. Following the assessment, the venue has received one demerit point.

The report has been forwarded to Cricket South Africa, who have 14 days to appeal against the sanction.

Mr Broad said: “The pitch in Newlands was very difficult to bat on. The ball bounced quickly and sometimes alarmingly throughout the match, making it difficult to play shots. Several batters were hit on the gloves and many wickets also fell due to the awkward bounce.”

The Newlands pitch for the 2nd Test between South Africa and India invited too much criticism after the said match got wrapped up in just two days and merely 642 (legal balls in the entire contest) deliveries.

Several experts came up to register their disappointment with the pitch after the match ended in a bizarre manner in Cape Town. Firstly, the hosts got wrapped up on an embarrassing total of 55 runs during the first innings while six Indian players went back without troubling the scorers during their first innings.

During the second innings, the home side couldn’t touch 200 and therefore, India didn’t have much of a task for shifting the momentum on their end. Chasing 79, visitors went on to win the match by seven wickets to level the series 1-1. Mohammed Siraj was declared the player of the match for wreaking havoc during the 1st innings of the Test.