ECB apologizes for not providing new pitch for Women’s Test

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has apologized for not providing a new pitch for the one-off Test between the Indian and England women’s teams at the County Ground in Bristol starting today. Actually a match of T20 Blast tournament was played here last week. In such a situation, both the teams have made an agreement to play on the 37 over old surface for the Test match.

In a statement issued by the ECB, we are all disappointed that 37 overs have already been played on the wicket on which the England women’s team will play the Test match against India. We know the England women’s players deserve a new wicket and we are sorry that we were unable to provide them with a new pitch. With the paucity of first-class grounds available, we knew the new pitch was going to be a challenge. We believe that this issue should not have arisen and we will ensure that it does not happen in future.

In fact, according to the statement of England women’s team captain Heather Knight, not providing a new wicket for such a big occasion is not ideal. It was only after that this issue came to the fore. Heather said on the eve of the Test match, “It’s certainly not ideal.” We would love to play on the new pitch, but alas it is an old pitch. We don’t know how it will be played on this pitch.

Former England cricketer Alex Hartley also criticized the board in this matter on social media. He was more angry because England were preparing to play a home Test for the first time in almost two years.