Cricket News

Apex Cricket Council rates Newlands pitch as unsatisfactory, hands 1 demerit point

The Apex Cricket Council has rated the pitch that hosted the recent Cape Town Test between South Africa and India as unsatisfactory and slapped it with one demerit point. ESPN Cricinfo has […]

Jan 9, 2024 6:48 pm

The Apex Cricket Council has rated the pitch that hosted the recent Cape Town Test between South Africa and India as unsatisfactory and slapped it with one demerit point. ESPN Cricinfo has confirmed that Cricket South Africa will not contest the decision which they seem to have accepted as a fair assessment of the pitch.

The game ended within 2 days as only 642 deliveries were required to wind up the game, making it the shortest result-oriented Test match in the storied history of the game. The pitch favoured fast bowlers to a huge extent in a way that there was uneven bounce and drastic movement. The two spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Ravindra Jadeja did not have to bowl a single ball during the game. It was a nightmare for batters, so much so that the home side was bowled out for just 55 in the first innings. India too had a share of the pitch’s miseries as at one point in time, they lost 6 wickets without adding a single run to the scoreboard.

“It was very difficult to bat on”

Chris Broad, the match referee, cited the surface as one that was ‘very difficult to bat on’ in his report to the Apex Cricket Council. “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,” Broad said. It has been learnt that Broad asked the two captains, Dean Elgar and Rohit Sharma for their respective opinions and both felt that the conditions were way below the standards.

The curators at Newlands will now have to ensure that this does not happen again in the near future as more demerit points can lead to tougher repercussions. Any international cricket venue that garners six demerit points within a five-year window faces a one-year suspension. Accumulating twelve demerit points within the same period doubles the penalty, resulting in a two-year suspension from hosting international matches.