The International Cricket Council (ICC) has declared the pitches for the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s and the third ODI between Pakistan and Australia at Gaddafi as ‘unsatisfactory’.
The ICC has also imposed one demerit point on both venues as part of its pitch and field monitoring process.
The ball’s excessive swing and uneven bounce at Lord’s led to the loss of 16 wickets on the first day and 17 on the second day, according to match referee Andy Pycroft.
“There was a clear imbalance there where the ball had an advantage over the bat because of the nature of the pitch,” he added.
Meanwhile, match referee Graham Labrooy said that the Gaddafi Stadium pitch was slow and low, making it difficult to score runs and that the spinners were given a lot of support from the early stages of the match.
The ICC has forwarded the reports to the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board, who have 14 days to appeal against the sanctions.
It is noteworthy that neither of these grounds had previously been penalised.
According to ICC rules, one penalty point is awarded for an ‘unsatisfactory’ pitch and three penalty points for an ‘unfit’ pitch.
These penalty points are valid for a period of five years.
A stadium that accumulates 6 penalty points will be banned from hosting international cricket matches for a period of 12 months, and a stadium that accumulates 12 penalty points will be banned from hosting international cricket matches for a period of 24 months.
Sinhala 
English