When England return to play test cricket in Pakistan in 2027, it will be interesting to see if the International Cricket Council, will have taken any action against Pakistan for their preparation of the wickets which favoured the Pakistan spinners in their defeat of England writes Merv Colenutt.
Back in 2019, when Somerset were originally deducted 24 points for preparing a poor wicket against Essex in the final game of the season in the final week of September, the England and Wales cricket Board found Somerset guilty for preparing a pitch that favoured the spinners, who took 17 wickets in a rain affected drawn fixture, the club were found guilty of breaching ECB regulations.
We are now seven years on from that, but with Pakistan using the very same pitch for successive test matches over a nine day period and then using rakes, patio heaters and industrial fans and for England then to lose 39 wickets out of 40 taken in 2 tests against the same spin attack, to me is beyond redemption.
Surely with the future of test match cricket very much up in the air when it comes to the continuation of a long term project, the governing body, they surely have to become more consistent in their approach to test match cricket and county cricket when it comes to fines and using different venues.
England have to accept that Pakistan prioritise their pitches to the art of spin bowling and England were not good enough to be fair, to adapt to those challenges for long enough and failed to get the results they were looking for, but what goes on in preparing a pitch that suits 11 players is something that has been put aside and everything in that respect favours the home side, on this occasion Pakistan.
Jack Leach was England’s leading wicket taker and Shoaib Bashir also bowled well, but were outshone by Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, but that was to be expected.
What we didn’t expect however was the rakes, patio heaters and industrial fans, on that basis, how can any county side or indeed any international side be punished after seeing those decisions made prior to an important test match.
Yes, spin was always going to be the key factor, but when you go into a test match, the talk mainly is about the quick bowlers selected by an international team and indeed a county side.
Surely if Pakistan go unpunished, then the future of international cricket and it’s test matches will lose it’s identity.
England to be fair failed abysmally in terms of any consistency and their shot selection was pretty poor at times, 7 wins and 7 losses really does sum up England’s form of late, but along with the T20 Blast, which to be fair has become a popular 40 over competition and to a far lesser extent the popularity of the Hundred where players swap shirts to play for another team, where money is key for every player, cricket now has a complete new meaning on how the game is played.
Normality might be returned in November when England visit New Zealand, both countries best batsmen and best seam bowlers will be on view, but the talk of wickets with rakes and heaters being used, won’t be mentioned, just the best players who adapt best of all to what promises to be an exciting test match series.
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