Pakistan chief slams Test surface

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman has admitted that the lifeless pitches expected throughout this series are not good enough.

The pitch in Rawalpindi was marked “below average” by the match referee after only 14 wickets fell in a Test against Australia in March in which 1,187 runs were scored across three innings and the surface for this match against England is no better.

Only two England players were actually dismissed by good balls in the first innings, the rest playing attacking shots.

There is no pace, very little turn and a complete imbalance between bat and ball. The groundsman shaved bare two pitches either side of the main surface to try to prothe

mote reverse swing but there has been little movement.

Ramiz Raja, the PCB chairman, has explored exporting drop-in pitches from Australia but they were deemed too expensive. Instead, he wants to grow drop-in pitches at home and modernise ground preparation techniques.

Pitch preparation and facilities stagnated while Pakistan did not host international cricket for a decade and the problem is only now being addressed. But it will not be in time for this Test series, with Raja saying they are “light years” away from producing good

pitches. It is why there have been more draws in Pakistan than anywhere else.

“Not happy at all,” he said about the surface. “Our way out is for drop-in pitches because all the surfaces are more or less the same. So, if you want to nail England, for example, on a spinning track, then we’ve got to prepare a drop-in pitch that turns from ball one, rather than having this hodge-podge where you get a half-baked pitch which is neither quick nor spins a lot.”

Raja said the pitches were worse when he played for Pakistan in the Eighties and Nineties but there is more emphasis now on entertainment. There has been a decent crowd for this Test, with almost a full house yesterday, but there is a novelty value to England playing here. With the Pakistan Super League T20 hugely popular, there is a worry crowds will drift away if turgid Test cricket is served up.

“I have not cracked the code regarding a Test match pitch, ” Raja said. “The reason I am stressing on drop-in pitches is you go to Multan or Karachi you will get a similar flavour. You don’t get bounce. We are still years away from creating a good five-day pitch.”