‘Unsatisfactory’: Mirpur pitch receives rating after second Bangladesh-New Zealand Test

Dubai, Dec 12 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday that the pitch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur for the second Test of the ICC World Test Championship series between Bangladesh and New Zealand has been rated as “unsatisfactory” according to the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.Match Referee David Boon submitted his report to the ICC expressing the concerns of the match officials and after consulting with the captains of both teams. Following the assessment, the venue has received one demerit point.Boon expressed the concerns in his report calling the pitch to be ‘under-prepared’ with inconsistent bounce and balls bursting from the surface’.“The outfield was very good and held up extremely well with the rain. However, it appeared that the pitch may have been under prepared, as it was not hard and was covered in grass clippings on day one.”From the first session onwards, throughout the remainder of the match the bounce was inconsistent with numerous balls bursting the surface. Deliveries from spin bowlers often went over the batter’s shoulder when playing forward and then occasionally stayed very low,” he said.Demerit points remain active for a rolling five-year period and when a venue accumulates six demerit points it is suspended from staging any international cricket for 12 months. –IANS cs/