ICC vows to provide best pitches for remaining matches at Nassau stadium

A day after recieving criticism over pitch’s behaviour during the match between India and Ireland in New York, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has acknowledged that the two Nassau County Cricket Ground pitches used so far in the World Cup did not play “as consistently as we would have all wanted”.

The ICC stated that since the previous game concluded, the world-class grounds staff has been working diligently to “remedy the situation” and provide the best surfaces for the remaining matches. 

The Pakistan-India match is set for June 9 at the same location.

The temporary Nassau stadium has hosted two games so far, both of which were low-scoring encounters because of the nature of the drop-in pitch which has made batting extremely difficult due to the movement and bounce.

Before the India-Ireland match, South Africa played against Sri Lanka on a pitch of the ground deemed by experts to be difficult, where the latter were routed for 77 and the target was achieved by the former in 16.2 overs.

India defeated Ireland by eight wickets on June 5, after bowling them out for 96 on pitch number four.

However, two of Indian batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, got wounded. Having been struck on the arm, Rohit was forced to retire hurt. Jasprit Bumrah’s vicious bouncer also injured Irish Harry Tector’s finger.

After this game, experts severely criticised the pitch. Former Zimbabwe player said it was “bordering on dangerous”.

Pitch number two and three have yet to be used for cricket matches as six more group games are scheduled to be held in the Nassau ground.