The cricket pitch at Newlands in Cape Town, where the recent match between South Africa and India took place, has been given a not-so-good rating by the Apex Cricket Council. They said the pitch wasn’t up to the standard, and they also gave one demerit point to it. Demerit points are like warnings for cricket pitches; if a pitch gets too many, it might not be allowed to host international matches for a certain time.
The match was won by India, but it ended quite quickly, in less than five sessions and just 642 balls. That makes it the fastest Test match result in cricket history. The fast bowlers had a good time during the match, making the ball move strangely, and the bounce was uneven. Surprisingly, no spin balls were bowled during the whole game.
The Apex Cricket Council decided to give the “unsatisfactory” rating after talking to the captains of both teams, Dean Elgar and Rohit Sharma. They both agreed that the pitch wasn’t good enough. Chris Broad, the match referee, mentioned that the ball bounced in a tricky way, making it hard for the batters to play their shots. Many batters got hit on their gloves, and wickets fell because of the strange bounce.
Cricket South Africa accepts the decision
Demerit points are part of the Apex Cricket Council’s way of keeping an eye on pitches. They can give different ratings to pitches, like very good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, or unfit. If a pitch gets an unsatisfactory rating, it gets one demerit point. If it’s considered unfit, it gets three demerit points.
These demerit points stick around for five years. If a venue where matches are played gets six demerit points, it might be stopped from hosting international matches for a year. If it goes up to 12 demerit points, it could face a two-year suspension. Cricket authorities, like Cricket South Africa, have decided not to argue against Newlands’ rating, accepting it as a fair judgement on the pitch’s quality.
Here is how fans react to Newlands:
It was such a risky pitch but Virat Kohli didn’t even flinch king for a reason
— Gurmeet Singh (@VK18THEGOAT) January 9, 2024
Unsatisfactory is not satisfactory for real Test cricket fans. How can we see a Test match end in 5 sessions? I rate Newland's pitch as the worst one. pic.twitter.com/FO2DiALf2z
— Shumaila Tanveer (@shumaila56_) January 9, 2024
But Rohit Sharma said if a batsman scores century than the Pitch is good
— Aarav (@sigma__male_) January 9, 2024
Great decision by icc
If this was an Indian pitch then Miachel Vaughan and his goons had cried over a 1000x times till now
But it is not India so no problem ?— CricketComiX (@CricketComiX) January 9, 2024
What will happen?
— Manoj Kumar ???? (@manoj_begu) January 9, 2024
You can say Disaster ?
20 wickets in a day
— Pankaj (@Pankaj41627) January 9, 2024
ICC ko aur koi kaam hi nahi hai.
— Abhay ?? (@abhayysrivastav) January 9, 2024
IF IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SATISFACTORY, INDIAN TEAM CAN'T WIN.
— Adnan Sardar (@Adnan_Sardar07) January 9, 2024
Reason given for rating the pitch as "unsatisfactory"
The ball bounced quickly and sometimes alarmingly throughout the match, making it difficult to play shots. Several batters were hit on the gloves and many wickets also fell due to the awkward bounce.
— Anuj Mishra (@anujmishra003) January 9, 2024
