There will be a sharp intake of breath when the second Test between England and Pakistan gets underway at Lord’s on Thursday morning.
Back in early June, the Test there against New Zealand began with a delivery from Matt Henry that kept low outside Ben Duckett’s off-stump and bounced twice on the way through to Jamie Smith.
Three days later, after England had won a low-scoring shootout in which three of the four innings failed to reach 150, MCC apologised for the inconsistency of the surface. Two days after that, the ICC labelled it ‘unsatisfactory’, and slapped Lord’s with an unprecedented demerit point.
The home of cricket scolded by the authorities? It was as if the parish vicar had been overheard using profanities in the vestibule.
‘It was a hard couple of days,’ says Rob Lynch, MCC’s director of cricket and operations. ‘It hurt. But we put our hands up straight away.’
Lynch, not unreasonably, calls the Lord’s pitch ‘the most scrutinised 22 yards in world sport’. But his acceptance that the surface for the New Zealand game wasn’t up to scratch might have been on behalf of the entire English game, with groundstaff everywhere struggling to combat a summer of heat waves and a fixture list that has mushroomed beyond all reason.
MCC had to apologise for the quality of the Lord’s surface after England won a low-scoring shootout against New Zealand in June in which three of the four innings failed to reach 150
Jacob Bethell reacts after being bowled by a Matt Henry delivery that barely got above shin height
There are exceptions. Headingley received widespread praise for the pitch it produced for last week’s first Test, while The Oval has regularly provided the pace and bounce England craved under Brendon McCullum.
But a more typical response came last summer, after England had lost to India at Edgbaston. Ben Stokes had chosen to bowl first in the expectation of early assistance for his seamers, but instead watched the Indians rack up 587. He later complained: ‘It ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch.’
At stake, then, is not simply the question of home advantage, which England – traditionally the spiritual home of grey skies, green pitches, seam and swing – are in danger of ceding, but the ability of overworked groundstaff to come up with surfaces that simultaneously please players and pundits, spectators and executives.
Three major problems have fed English cricket’s pitch crisis. The first is sheer volume, with the advent of the Hundred and the growth of the women’s game adding to the workload. Of the 20 pitches on the Lord’s square, only seven can be used for televised games, and only five for major matches. Sooner or later, something has to give.
The second is county cricket’s centralisation. The outgrounds which once eased the pressure on county HQs play less of a role than they once did as clubs look to cut costs by focusing on their main venue.
Then there’s the drought, which has been good for spectators but a nightmare for groundstaff unsure how best to balance the traditional skills of watering and rolling pitches. Preparation at Lord’s for the New Zealand Test faced two extremes in quick succession during the build-up: a heat wave followed by torrential rain. The usual calculations went out of the window.
It was notable that July’s one-day international against India was preceded by calmer weather: Karl McDermott, the Lord’s head groundsman, produced a belter on which 747 runs were scored in 100 overs for the loss of ten wickets.
Trent Bridge, meanwhile, which staged the third Test of the New Zealand series, started so dry that cracks were visible beneath the early coating of grass. Two days before the game, McCullum was praying England won the toss. They did not – and went on to lose the series.
Bethell had better luck in the ODI at Lord’s against India a month later, smashing 91 as part of England’s mammoth 387 for three – in a match that produced more than 747 runs in 100 overs
Of the 20 pitches on the Lord’s square, only seven can be used for televised games, and only five for major matches. Sooner or later, something has to give
Perhaps the most sobering aspect of the Lord’s drama was that it was no great surprise. And what unfolded merely fortified Lynch’s belief that something had to be done. A seven-point action plan was drawn up, and MCC – as so often – are now at the forefront of tackling the problem.
They have brought in turf management experts, including Blair Christiansen, who is in charge of Auckland’s Eden Park but was also FIFA’s pitch manager for the World Cup final in New Jersey.
They are cultivating drop-in pitches, and hope to use one for an international match in 2029, and now use Wormsley – an hour’s drive from St John’s Wood up the M40 – to host around 35 days of cricket a year.
And they are making enhanced use of data to examine factors such as moisture levels, and will embark on a painstaking relaying process of some of the central pitches, starting by digging up the New Zealand strip, which takes it out of action for at least two years.
‘No two people were hurting more than Karl and me,’ says Lynch. ‘We feel the pressure. If we didn’t, we’d be in the wrong job.’
Some feel the ECB have allowed the matter to fester, and Neil Snowball, the board’s managing director of competitions and major events, admits the problem risks generating ‘18 different answers’ from each of the first-class counties.
But he says the ECB are planning to give host grounds between seven and nine clear days before each Ashes Test next summer to aid preparation, and are encouraging clubs to make greater use of their outgrounds, especially during the One-Day Cup, which clashes with the Hundred.
Snowball cites the example of Warwickshire, where he was previously chief executive and which this season staged three of its four one-day games at Rugby School rather than Edgbaston. And he wants to look at the number of non-professional matches staged by the major venues.
Middlesex have turned to using outgrounds for One-Day Cup matches, such as Radlett in Hertfordshire
Gloucestershire hosted a Championship match against Worcestershire at Cheltenham College this month
As for the UK’s ever hotter summers, water management is high on the agenda, with bore holes, underground storage and the use of ‘grey water’ (non-drinking water) all part of the discussion.
It’s a reminder that cricket is feeling its way through a subject that is less scientific than many critics of the Lord’s pitch appear to think.
And for all MCC’s good intentions, they will not breathe easily again until this week’s Pakistan Test goes by without too much scrutiny of those troublesome 22 yards.
