'Benign, dead' pitch could come under ICC microscope

The match referee who put the MCG on notice for an unacceptable pitch four years ago will have the final say on whether a "dead" Rawalpindi deck that has produced just 11 wickets in four days will receive a similar sanction.

Steve Smith lamented the lifeless surface produced for the highly-anticipated Benaud-Qadir series opener which is on track to finish as one of the least bowler-friendly Test matches this century.

Barring some final-day fireworks, the match looks destined to finish as a stalemate with Australia going to stumps on Monday on 7-449 in reply to Pakistan's 4-476 declared.

The International Cricket Council's chief referee Ranjan Madugalle was the appointed match referee in Melbourne for the 2017 Ashes Test against England when he took the rare step of formally labelling the drop-in pitch that produced 24 wickets in five days as "poor".

Should Madugalle (who is also officiating this Test) reach a similar verdict in Rawalpindi, the ground will receive three demerit points. A venue that is handed five points over a five-year period will be suspended from hosting international cricket for 12 months.

Pakistan's Nauman Ali, whose domestic team Northern plays in Rawalpindi, acknowledged the surface has played significantly different to previous wickets at the venue.

Smith, who made 78 from 196 balls, said the track offered nothing for fast bowlers and only marginal assistance for spinners.

"It's pretty benign," Smith told reporters. "There's not a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers, that's for sure.

"I think the spinners have offered a little bit. When you've hit the right length there's been a bit of natural variation, and when you get it out a bit wider into the rough there's a bit there as well.

"But outside of that, I don't think there's a great deal on offer for the fast bowlers … It's a pretty benign, dead wicket.

"There's not very much bounce, not a great deal of pace and if you're bowling stump to stump and setting straight fields it's not overly easy to score ... but also probably difficult to get out as well."

Smith also played in that 2017-18 Ashes Test at the MCG, scoring a second-innings century, and had been even more forthright on that surface, of which he said: "I just don't think it's good for anyone."

The ongoing match's current average of 84.09 runs per wicket is the highest recorded since the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test in Galle in 2013 (84.89).

The fewest wickets to fall in a Test not significantly affected by rain (minimum 330 overs bowled for the match) this century is 17.

In guidelines implemented by the ICC at the beginning of 2018 (coincidentally only days after the MCG bat-a-thon in December 2017) the governing body decreed that Test pitches should "allow all the individual skills of the game to be demonstrated by the players at various stages of the match".

Image Id: 0A8E861DB7974130963436D00BB7E512 Image Caption: England's Alastair Cook made the MCG's highest score on a "poor" pitch in 2017 // Getty

A pitch is deemed "poor" if it "displays little or no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match together with no significant bounce or carry, thereby depriving the bowlers of a fair contest between bat and ball".

The ICC also suggests that "if anything, the balance of the contest between bat and ball in a Test match should slightly favour the bowling team".

The only pitch that has been deemed "poor" since the introduction of the new ICC rules was the 2018 Wanderers Test between South Africa and India which was at the other end of the scale to the Rawalpindi deck.

That surface had raised concerns over player safety due to volatile pace and bounce with speedsters Jasprit Bumrah, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada proving a nightmare for batters.

Australia had been expecting Rawalpindi to provide the most seam-friendly conditions of their three-Test tour of Pakistan, with drier pitches then expected in Lahore and Karachi.

Pacemen took all but eight of the 40 wickets to fall in the most recent Test at the venue in February last year, a 95-run win for Pakistan over South Africa in which quick Hasan Ali was player of the match with a 10-wicket haul.

A year on left-arm spinner Nauman resorted to bowling over the wicket to Australia's right-handers, at the encouragement of spin coach Saqlain Mushtaq, to target bowler's footmarks.

"The pitch was slow and there was no turn but I tried to utilise the rough area and bowl in the key areas, eventually I succeeded," said Nauman, the Test’s most successful bowler with four victims having dismissed both Smith and Cameron Green with the over-the-wicket ploy.

"After yesterday’s bowling we had a long discussion with Saqlain Mushtaq and the plan was to use the rough areas as there was no turn in the pitch.

"Normally in 'Pindi' the pitch is different due to weather and the pitch is not very dry and always helps the batsmen."

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. On standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Renshaw

March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: Only T20I, Rawalpindi

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports