ICC hands official warning to Durban, Port-of-Spain

The ICC has handed official warnings under its pitch and outfield monitoring process to Kingsmead in Durban and the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

Kingsmead hosted the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand from August 19 to 23, and the Queen’s Park Oval the fourth Test between West Indies and India from August 18 to 22. Both matches were heavily curtailed because of outfield conditions.

Andy Pycroft and Ranjan Madugalle, the match referees for the two Tests, both rated the outfields “poor” in their official reports.

Madugalle and Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s general manager, reviewed CSA’s response to the “poor” rating, while Allardice and match referee David Boon reviewed WICB’s response.

Since this was the first occasion either ground had received a “poor” rating, the grounds stood to receive either a warning or a fine not exceeding USD 15,000, along with “a directive for appropriate corrective action”.

“The sanctions take into account Durban and Port of Spain venues’ history of producing good conditions for international cricket and commitment by both the boards to take appropriate steps to ensure similar events are not repeated in future,” an ICC release said.

In all, 11 sessions out of 15 were lost to a wet and soft outfield at Kingsmead. Only 22 overs of play were possible in the Port-of-Spain Test, with no play at all on days two, three, four and five despite largely sunny weather. (ESPNCricinfo)

Photo caption: Ground staff at Queen’s Park Oval dug up the outfield in a bid to get it to dry out © AFP