South Africa v India 2023/24

Newlands pitch for shortest ever Test match avoids ‘Unfit’ rating, deemed ‘Unsatisfactory’ by ICC

by Wisden Staff January 9, 2024 - 10:23am 2 minute read

The ICC has termed the Newlands pitch in Cape Town “unsatisfactory” after the low-scoring second Test between South Africa and India ended within two days.

The shortest ever Test match lasted only 642 balls after the Proteas were shot out for 55 in the first innings. Led by a superb 6-15 by Mohammed Siraj, India bowled out the home team for latter’s lowest Test score since 1932. The match wrapped up inside five sessions after India took a 98-run lead and then dismissed the hosts again, for 176, and chased down the target of 79 with ease in the end.

The match referee for the game, Chris Board deemed the pitch “unsatisfactory” under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

In his report, 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.”

When is a pitch declared “unsatisfactory?”

According to the latest guidelines effective from November 2023, a Test pitch will be rated “very good”, “satisfactory”, “unsatisfactory” or “unfit” at the end of the game by the referee.

An unsatisfactory pitch will be declared if “A pitch that does not allow an even contest between bat and ball:
– Either by favouring the batters too much, with minimal wicket-taking opportunities for both seam and spin, or
– By favouring the bowlers too much, with too many wicket-taking opportunities for either seam or spin.”

A total of 33 wickets fell in the game, all to seamers. There were two spinners in the Test match, Ravindra Jadeja and Keshav Maharaj, one from either side: neither bowled a single delivery throughout.

At the end, the pitch was deemed to be “favouring the bowlers too much, with too many wicket-taking opportunities for seam”, resulting in an “unsatisfactory” rating.

An “unfit” pitch is only declared if it is dangerous in nature. Despite the variable bounce in Newlands and the batters copping a few blows, Broad did not declare it dangerous for batting, which led to an “unsatisfactory” rating.