ICC warns Sri Lanka over "Poor" Galle's Pitch

 Sri Lanka's cricket board (SLC) has been officially warned for the "poor" quality of the pitch at Galle, which hosted the first Test in their recent series against Australia, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday.


The SLC was in line for a sanction after the pitch was criticised as "too dry" by both teams after Australia won the test by 125 runs last month.

Galle hosted the first Test match in the recently concluded three-match series against Australia. Chris Broad, who officiated in the match, put across his concerns regarding the quality of the pitch in his match report.


“We have come to a decision that the pitch prepared for the match should be rated as ‘poor’,” said ICC's General Manager Dave Richardson.


The ICC can either issue a warning and/or fine (for a first offence) or even suspend the international status of the venue in the case of recurring offences.


“It was clear from the video footage of the match that the amount of turn, especially early in the match, was excessive and there were occasions (even on the first day) where the ball went through the surface of the pitch, bouncing unusually steeply from a good length,” he said.


“Whilst it is understandable and acceptable for a pitch to deteriorate over the course of the match, for a pitch to exhibit this type of behaviour at relatively early stages of the match was not acceptable.


“We do not wish to see a pitch that is too heavily weighted in favour of the batsmen, in this instance, the balance was just too much in favour of the bowler,” Richardson said. Australia had won the Test match to by 125 runs.


“Taking into account that it was the first time that a pitch at Galle has been rated as ‘poor’ and given the intention of the curator to prepare a pitch that provided a fair balance between bat and ball, we have decided to impose a warning as the sanction,” Richardson revealed.


The ICC has also called for pitch consultant Andy Atkinson to inspect the Galle pitch and suggest corrective methods to improve the quality of the pitch.


Andy Atkinson will inspect the venue by the end of this month.