If the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had any real teeth it would react to the controversy over the Lord’s pitch by stripping the venue of next year’s Ashes Test.
Even Mark Nicholas, chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), admitted the surface for last week’s Test against New Zealand was “substandard”.
This came after an unprecedented apology from MCC chief executive Rob Lawson in the hours after England completed their 115-run victory on a pitch that offered such an uneven contest between bat and ball that the number of balls per wicket (24.9) was the lowest at any English Test venue since 1907.
It was also only the third Test in history played in England that not a single ball was bowled by a spinner. The number of balls bowled – 966 – was the fewest at Lord’s since 1888, when Lord Salisbury was Prime Minister and Queen Victoria was on the throne.
Criticised by both captains, as well as pretty much every commentator, the pitch will, in the next few days, be judged “unsatisfactory” by International Cricket Council, with Lord’s being given one demerit point in the process. Any venue that picks up six over a five-year period is banned from hosting international cricket for a year.
