Leaked ICC memo to Match Referees

To: All Match Refrees

From: The ICC Committee for Pitch Maintenance

Subject: Guidance for Rating Pitches – Appendix C – Addendum A1

Recent events in the media regarding the integrity of our current Pitch Rating mechanism has caused us to revisit and review the prevailing assessment criteria on the Test Match Pitch and Outfield Reports. As a proactive and dedicated organisation to the continuing improvement of the world game through better pitches and to cater to our most important stakeholder – the fans – we have added an Addendum A1 to Appendix C of the current Manual.

The additional criteria aims at offering a wholly approach to the assessment of a pitch from pre to post match. .

The new assessment points and their guidelines are detailed below.

A)        Assess the body language of players pre-match as a direct correlation to the pitch they are about to engage.

B)        Monitor facebook/twitter activity of Players/Curators and Fan forums before the game for red flags

 

C)        Analyse and Assess red flag phrases during the end of day press conferences.

D)        Assess the overall event to gauge the impact of the pitch for the Quality of content on offer for Fans

 

Pitch Definitions For Reference

Poor

Almost exclusively prepared by Rebel curators who pay no heed to the guidelines that the ICC has provided. Financially unviable and will require immediate upgrade to at least a Rating of Good. Provides no capacity for batsmen to execute their skills early in the game. A result is guarantee but as a governing body we have a responsibility to the consumer to provide an opportunity better Quality Cricket. As such these much be gotten rid of. Please contact your supervisor immediately if you grade a pitch in this category.

Good

A pitch receiving this rating is highly unlikely. These are now all but extinct and only spoken about in folklore. There are rumours that some may still exist in Australia and in England but recent performances by both home countries have made that very hard to believe. These pitches offered games that lasted all 5 days with equal opportunity for bat and ball. A result was a strong possibility

Excellent / Quite Superb

This is the crème de le crème of pitch preparation. These are financial gold mines. The only downside is the number of bowlers queuing up to the complaints box after matches. Predictable games offering the best value for money for the fans. Results are unlikely but we will be privileged to definitive cricket; Less than <5 degree movement as measured by a Protractor on day 1 and 2. Comfortable batting on all 5 days. Some turn after the post lunch session on Day5.

4 Comments

  1. Ashish said:

    Brilliant!

    October 5, 2011
    Reply
  2. damiths said:

    Ashish > I suspect you may have stumbled upon a good batting pitch by your comment.

    October 5, 2011
    Reply
  3. Chavie said:

    Haha, goldmines indeed. 😀 Very cool!

    October 6, 2011
    Reply

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