ICC to inspect Sabina pitch before matches (22 May 1998)

Friday, May 22, 1998

ICC to inspect Sabina pitch before matches

The Jamaica Gleaner

A ruling by world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) to inspect the pitch at Sabina Park before future matches has been welcomed by Errol Ziadie, chairman of the pitch committee.

A committee was put in place by Kingston Cricket Club, home of Sabina Park to oversee the wicket for future Test matches, after the first Test between West Indies and England was abandoned after only 55 minutes of play. England, who opted to bat after winning the toss had reached 17 for three in 10.1 overs when the match was called off.

According to Zaidie "if the ICC have a rule that they want to inspect a pitch before any match is played then that is their proactive. It is under the auspices of the ICC that the matches are going to be played and if that is their condition, then that is their condition. We would welcome anybody to come and inspect the pitch. I think that it a reasonable statement. If you have match abandon because of the pitch I would imagine the governing body would want to make sure that that particular ground has repair the pitch to a proper condition before. I don't think that is unreasonable."

The Jamaica Cricket Board of Control (JCBC) is not aware of the ICC's ruling said its secretary Roy Paul.

"We (JCBC) have not seen anything from the ICC as yet so I am unable to comment on the situation," said Paul.

The issue, according to the wire report out of London was the major topic discussed at a two-day meeting of the ICC's recently-formed cricket committee which ended at Lord's on Wednesday.

The wire story stated that the ICC has acted to prevent a repeat of the pitch fiasco that caused international matches in India and West Indies to be abandoned during the 1997-98 season.

The second one-day game in a three-match series between India and Sri Lanka was called off at Indore on Christmas Day last year because the pitch was unfit, and the first Test between West Indies and England at Kingston, Jamaica, in January was abandoned after 10 overs because the surface was dangerous.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)