The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the pitch for the second Test of the ICC World Test Championship series between South Africa and India at Newlands in Cape Town has been rated as “unsatisfactory” under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

ICC Match Referee Chris Broad submitted his report expressing the concerns of the match officials and after consulting with captains Dean Elgar and Rohit Sharma, both of whom felt that the pitch was below standard. Following the assessment, the venue has received one demerit point.

The report has been forwarded to Cricket South Africa, who have 14 days to appeal against the sanction.

Mr Broad said: “The pitch in Newlands was very difficult to bat on. The ball bounced quickly and sometimes alarmingly throughout the match, making it difficult to play shots. Several batters were hit on the gloves and many wickets also fell due to the awkward bounce.”

– In the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, if a pitch or outfield is rated as being substandard, that venue will be allocated a number of demerit points.
– One demerit point will be awarded to venues whose pitches and outfields are rated by the match referee as unsatisfactory, while three demerit points will be awarded to venues whose pitches and outfields are marked as unfit.
–Demerit points will remain active for a rolling five-year period.
– When a venue accumulates six demerit points (or crosses that threshold), it will be suspended from hosting any international cricket for 12 months, while a venue will be suspended from staging any international cricket for 24 months when it reaches the threshold of 12 demerit points.