Kingsmead and Queen’s Park Oval outfields rated as “poor” by the match referees

Kingsmead and Queen’s Park Oval outfields rated as “poor” by the match referees. The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the outfields at Kingsmead, Durban, and Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, have been rated as “poor” by the match referees.

Andy Pycroft and Ranjan Madugalle, both from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, in accordance with Clause 3 of the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, submitted their reports to the ICC in which they have expressed their concerns over the quality of the outfields for the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand, and the fourth Test between the West Indies and India, respectively.

The reports have been forwarded to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), who now have 14 days to provide their responses.

The CSA’s response will be reviewed by ICC’s General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, and Mr Madugalle, while Mr Allardice and David Boon, also from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, will assess the WICB’s reply. Both the matters will be decided in accordance with Clause 4 of the process.

Also read – India A skipper Manish Pandey fined for breaching Code of Conduct

While the West Indies v India Test ensured that there was indeed more at stake when it came to playing all days of the match, in the case of the South Africa v New Zealand Test match, what was at stake was a great game of cricket. Although New Zealand has never beaten South Africa in a Test series before, the match would have most certainly yielded perhaps some of the most epic proportions.

The second and final Test of the series between South African and New Zealand will start from 27th of August at Supersport Park, Centurion.