Richardson pledges 'good batting wickets'

ICC chief executive David Richardson has said the world body will ensure pitches in the World Twenty20 next year in India are not loaded in favour of any side, while emphasising that "good batting wickets" will be the standard fare in the tournament.

"Normally for an ICC event, we have our own pitch consultant who will oversee pitch preparations at all the venues," Richardson told ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai to announce the fixtures for the World T20.

"Obviously for an ICC event we want to make sure no one particular team is favored, and essentially when it comes to T20 cricket that we have good batting wickets that will be the same for both the team batting first or second. And that will be the goal."

Richardson's remarks come in the wake of intense debate over the pitches prepared for the recently-concluded Test series between India and South Africa. The pitch in Nagpur for the third Test was rated 'poor' by the match referee, Jeff Crowe, who has submitted the report to the ICC.

Richardson did not explicitly refer to Nagpur, which will host the first round of matches in the World T20, including India's opening game against New Zealand, but said the priorities and parameters in ICC events were markedly different to those in bilateral fixtures. "Obviously when bilateral tours take place there are different objectives I suppose, but for an ICC event, we don't favour one team against the other," he said.

"Obviously in this part of the world, the tracks will be a little bit slower than you might find in Australia and South Africa, but as long as it's a good batting wicket, good even bounce and as long as it doesn't deteriorate from one innings to the next, that's what we're looking for."

One of the ICC's bigger priorities, according to Richardson, was the security arrangement. The ICC has been grappling with security concerns in different geographies recently. While Australia refused to tour Bangladesh in October due to security concerns, Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in May against the advice of their Sports and Recreation Commission, and completed the series despite a suicide attack in Lahore. The ICC had refused to send its officials to Pakistan following a report from its security team.

"Security is becoming an issue all around the world now for us, whether it's the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh or the World T20 in India," Richardson admitted. "Security is one of our priorities and we will be engaging with the security agencies, police authorities in all the venues to make sure that security is, as far as humanly possible, guaranteed not only for the players but the media attendees and the spectators at the stadiums."