Gabba pitch below Average:The Gabba pitch has officially been rated ‘below average’ by the International Cricket Council for the NRMA Insurance Test against South Africa that finished inside two days.

The rating, imposed by the ICC’s match referee Richie Richardson, sees the Brisbane venue earn its first demerit point.

Demerit point will stay on the ground’s record for the next five years :-

That demerit point will stay on the ground’s record for the next five years. If a ground receives five demerit points it will be banned from hosting international cricket.

There are two lower tiers on the ICC’s six-tier rating system: ‘poor’ and ‘unfit’, which attract three and five demerit points respectively.

Richardson said this about Gabba ‘s pitch:-

“Overall, the Gabba pitch for this Test match was too much in favour of the bowlers,” Richardson said.

“There was extra bounce and occasional excessive seam movement. The odd delivery also kept low on the second day, making it very difficult for batters to build partnerships.

“I found the pitch to be “below average” as per the ICC guidelines since it was not an even contest between bat and ball.”

Last summer’s Ashes Test at the venue was rated ‘average’ by the ICC :-

Last summer’s Ashes Test at the venue rated ‘average’ by the ICC. That match saw England bowled out for 147 and 297 while Australia piled up 425 en route to a nine-wicket win.

Also Read:- Ravindra Jadeja’s Wife Rivaba Took Oath As MLA in The First Session Of The Vidhansabha

Recent ratings for the Gabba pitch:-

• Oct 19 T20 v Sri Lanka: Very Good

• Nov 19 Test v Pakistan: Very Good

• Jan 21 Test v India: Good

• Dec 21 Test v England: Average

• Oct 22 T20 v West Indies: Very Good

• Dec 22 Test v South Africa: Below Average

Steve Smith claimed this :-

Steve Smith claimed in the immediate aftermath of Australia’s six-wicket win it was “probably the most challenging wicket I’ve seen in Australia in terms of seam, up and down bounce, spin …”

“It was like there were different areas of moisture on the wicket, so some balls were taking divots and going slow off the wicket, others were hitting harder parts of the wicket and zinging through,” Smith told cricket.com.au.

“So once those soft bits are hit, it creates some divots as well.

“You would’ve seen a lot of the balls that hit the divots and either shot low or took off, so as a batter it’s very difficult to play against.”

Also Read:- Indian Captain KL Rahul will Interact With The Media in Dhaka