Used pitch row over England vs India women’s Test in Bristol

India will face hosts England in a four-day Test in Bristol Wednesday onwards. The match will be followed by three ODIs and T20Is each.

Published on: Jun 15, 2021, 21:00:07 IST

By HT Correspondent, Chandigarh

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It won’t happen in men’s Test cricket, and definitely has not happened in the modern era. A controversy has risen ahead of India women’s one-off Test against England starting at the Bristol County Ground on Wednesday over a used pitch being provided.

The four-day Test will be played on a pitch where a county T20 game was played last week.

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England women’s team captain Heather Knight criticised the pitch being provided for the match. “It was used for a Gloucestershire T20 match last week, which I guess obviously is not ideal. We would much prefer to be on a fresh one but it is what it is and we do not know how it is going to play necessarily. We have got to go now and get our head around playing on the pitch we have been given,” she told a media conference on the eve of the Test.

“Obviously slightly different with it being used, but we are confident we have got the squad and the XI that we are going to pick to win this Test match. We found out last week about it, which obviously we tried to get changed but it was a little bit too late for that to happen,” Knight added.

The England camp is particularly worried it could prove a sluggish pitch, which she felt could play into the hands of India’s spin-dominated bowling attack. India have many specialist spinners—Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav and Sneh Rana.

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India skipper Mithali Raj played down the issue. “Firstly, we are here to play a match. Whatever strip we get we will try and get a result out of it, and that is the thought process.

“Whether it is a used wicket or a fresh wicket, as players and as captain I’m there to support my team to get a result and for that it is important that we follow our strategies accordingly.”

India will play their first Test in seven years. Their last Test was against hosts England at Wormsley Park in 2014, which they won by six wickets.

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