Mirpur, Dec 12: The Mirpur pitch, which hosted the second and final test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand, has received a demerit point after the International Cricket Council rated it as unsatisfactory.
ICC match referee David Boon in his assessment said that “the pitch may have been underprepared” and that “deliveries from spin bowlers often went over the batter’s shoulder when playing forward and then occasionally stayed very low.” New Zealand won the match by four wickets to level the two-match series, thanks to Glenn Phillips’ all-round performance.
The match overall saw just 178.1 overs of action over the course of 3 1/2 days after all of Day 2 and some sizable chunks of the first and third days got chopped off due to rain and wet outfields, making it the shortest-ever test in Mirpur. A total of 36 wickets fell in that period.The report has been forwarded to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), which now has 14 days to appeal against the sanction.
This is not the first time that the Mirpur pitch has come under fire. In 2021, the ICC also rated the pitch “below average” after a Test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand. The ICC has expressed concern about the consistency of the pitch and has urged the Bangladesh Cricket Board to take steps to improve it. The ICC match referee, David Boon, cited excessive turn and uneven bounce as the main reasons for the unsatisfactory rating. He stated that the pitch produced a contest that was too heavily skewed in favor of the bowlers, and did not give the batsmen a fair chance. (AP)
