– The Lord’s and the Gaddafi stadium pitches where England took on New Zealand and Australia faced Pakistan in a Test and ODI respectively were rated as unsatisfactory by the ICC under the Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.The two venues have been handed one demerit point each after match referees Andy Pycroft (Lord’s) and Graeme La Brooy (Gaddafi Stadium) submitted their respective reports, highlighting concerns raised by match officials and captains.

“There was plenty of excessive seam movement throughout the Test and the ball also kept extremely low on several occasions. The bounce was variable throughout as 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 on the second. There was simply an over-balance in favour of ball against bat caused by the pitch,” Pycroft said about the Lord’s pitch.

“It did not suit an ODI game as batters had to spend more time to settle in. It helped spin very early in the match and continued the same way throughout,” La Brooy said of the Gaddafi stadium surface.The reports have been forwarded to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), who have 14 days to appeal against the sanctions. Neither Lord’s nor Gaddafi Stadium had any previous demerit points.As per ICC regulations, a venue receives one demerit point if a pitch is rated “unsatisfactory” and three points if it is rated “unfit”. The points remain active for a five-year rolling period.

A venue accumulating six demerit points is suspended from hosting international cricket for 12 months, while reaching 12 demerit points results in a 24-month suspension.England had defeated New Zealand by 115 runs after both teams failed to cross 150 runs in their respective first innings. England went past 200 in their second innings and then restricted the Kiwis to 138 to win the match on a pitch that came under scrutiny for offering nothing to the batters.England captain Ben Stokes had said after the match that Test cricket, a format under massive threat from the Twenty20 game, needed better pitches than the one served up at Lord’s.