The International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee has taken a lenient view on the pitch of six out of the eight matches played in New York during the T20 World Cup 2024, including India vs. Pakistan, and has given it a ‘satisfactory’ rating. Of the matches played at the temporary Nassau County Cricket Stadium, the pitch used for India’s opening match against Ireland and the match between Sri Lanka and South Africa has received an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating from the match referee.
The ICC had organized matches in New York to promote cricket in the US but faced criticism due to poor pitch and slow outfield. The apex body of cricket published the pitch rating on its website long after the tournament ended on Tuesday. The game was played in the US and West Indies from June 1 to 29.
All eight matches in New York were low-scoring, and experts and fans sharply criticized these pitches during and after its organization. India played three group-stage matches in New York, while its match against Canada in Fort Lauderdale was washed out due to rain.
A drop-in pitch is made somewhere away from the ground or venue and later brought to the stadium and laid. The pitches used in New York were prepared under the supervision of Adelaide Oval’s chief curator, Damian Hough. These pitches were transported to New York in the first week of May, and the opening match between South Africa and Sri Lanka was played on them without full testing.
The average first innings score in the eight matches played in New York was 107.6. Ranjan Madugalle, David Boon, Jeff Crowe and Richie Richardson were the four-match referees for the New York matches. The pitch for India’s Super Eight match against Afghanistan in Barbados was rated ‘satisfactory’. The pitch for the tournament’s final match was rated ‘very good’. This was the only pitch to achieve a ‘very good’ rating.
Only three of the 52 competition matches were rated’ unsatisfactory’. The third match was the semi-final between Afghanistan and South Africa in Trinidad, in which the Afghanistan team was bowled out for 56 runs.
This ICC rating is a bit surprising because it gave the pitch of the ODI World Cup final played between India and Australia in Ahmedabad last year an average rating. The Indian team, undefeated before the final, could score only 240 runs on the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch in the title match.
Australia chased this target in 43 overs, which shows that this pitch was much better than the drop-in pitches used in New York.
