MELBOURNE: The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has been given an official warning for producing a 'poor' pitch for the fourth Ashes Test, ICC said today.
The fourth Boxing Day Test between Australia and England played at the venue from December 26-30 last year was the only match of the five-Test series that failed to produce a result over the five days.
ICC Match Referee, Ranjan Madugalle had rated the pitch as "poor" in his official report but ICC let it off with a warning after Cricket Australia showed commitment to improve the pitch provided for future matches.
"In arriving at the sanction, the ICC noted the comprehensive response provided by Cricket Australia, which did not contest the rating given to the pitch by the ICC Match Referee, Ranjan Madugalle, but highlighted that the ground is a frequently used venue that has no history of preparing poor pitches for international cricket," ICC said in a release.
Cricket Australia also "indicated that there was a commitment by both the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) and Cricket Australia to improve the pitches presented for international cricket at the MCG in the future." Interestingly, the MCG Test was the last Test to be rated under the old ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring regulations, with a revised process being introduced in men's and women's international cricket from 4 January, 2018.