Curator refuses to remove matting during semis

The pitch curator at Edgbaston refused to remove the artificial matting pitch cover that remained throughout the Champions Trophy semifinal on Thursday.

Published : Jun 16, 2017 16:08 IST , Birmingham

India and Bangadesh played the semifinal with one of the pitches being covered by a mat throughout.
India and Bangadesh played the semifinal with one of the pitches being covered by a mat throughout.
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India and Bangadesh played the semifinal with one of the pitches being covered by a mat throughout.

 

The pitch curator at at Edgbaston refused to remove the artificial matting pitch cover that remained throughout the semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy between India and Bangladesh.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) got a taste of what a county match means to the Warwickshire groundstaff in charge of maintaining the Edgbaston pitch.

There is a norm to put a matting (artificial pitch) on a match pitch to protect it from being battered by the boot studs when players run over it.

However during international matches, the ground belongs to ICC and these kind of pitch matting is not allowed as it could mean that fielders have a chance of getting injured while tripping over it. It was learnt that the matter was brought to the notice of ICC match referee Chris Broad and he spoke to the groundstaff, who refused to remove the matting.

“They were told that this can’t remain fixed but the curator was adamant that it won’t be removed as that particular pitch that has been covered is the one on which Warwickshire will be playing their next County game against Lancashire,” a source said.

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