Women’s Ashes pitch farce exposed as ‘disgraceful’ blight

England cricket officials have dealt the women’s Ashes series a major insult in the wake of the countries’ extraordinary World Cup triumph.

England cricket official’s failure to curate a pitch for the Women’s Ashes Test in Taunton, beginning on Thursday night (AEST), has been branded “disgraceful”.

In a match of historical significance as the first women’s test to be broadcast live and in-full on free to air Australian television, England cricket officials have delivered a worn pitch that was used during the Cricket World Cup more than five weeks ago.

The decision not to curate a pitch for the crucial test, where Australia can seal a series victory, has led to outcry across the cricket world.

The pitch, last used for New Zealand’s win over Afghanistan 40 days’ prior, had England captain Heather Knight and Aussie skipper Meg Lanning scrambling to adjust to the conditions that are expected to play a major part in the contest.

With Australia needing just a draw to retain the Ashes after winning the three ODIs, England were unlikely to prepare the sort of flat track that led to the most recent Women’s Tests in Canterbury and North Sydney being played out as draws.

Even Ellyse Perry may struggle on the 40-day old deck.

While lifeless decks had previously been the concern, the blatantly doctored deck now has cricket commentators alarmed that the match could be all over in a couple of days if it plays as favourably as expected into the hands of spinners.

Australian cricket guru Peter Lalor described the situation as “disgraceful”.

WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

That’s disgraceful https://t.co/1pPsfDuSXi

— Peter Lalor (@plalor) July 17, 2019

Meg Lanning confirms that a used pitch is being dished up for them here tomorrow. Fuck sake. #WomensAshes

— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) July 17, 2019

As much as I sincerely love a pre-Test pitch stink, it is worth adding this info to hand: tomorrow's track has been used once this summer, on 8 June, for Afghanistan vs NZ when Jimmy Neesh took 5fa in a hurry. #WomensAshes

— Adam Collins (@collinsadam) July 17, 2019

England getting photo ready for the #Ashes Test. Lanning just said it’s a used pitch, which is concerning. Hope we are not about to get another dud pitch for a women’s Test. pic.twitter.com/g3elEPFWwr

— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) July 17, 2019

The pitch shamelessly plays against the strengths of Australia’s fast-bowling battery and in-form top order.

It plays right into the hands of England’s spinners with the hosts forced to take drastic action with the series quickly slipping through their hands.

Both teams will be forced to look to their spinners to stand up.

Returning Aussie allrounder Sophie Molineux is suddenly a crucial piece of the Australian team.

“The last few Test matches haven’t been as a good a contest, but I’ve no doubt this match will be different to that,” Aussie captain Lanning said.

A look at the pitch 🇦🇺 + 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 will be playing on #Ashes pic.twitter.com/C4HMuUBIiC

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 17, 2019

“There’s the potential it could turn later in the Test which is pretty exciting with both sides going out there to win, I think it will be a great contest.

“We’re happy playing whatever comes our way. I think it will be a really good contest and it will play reasonably well early on, it’s just towards the back end we’ll just have to see how it goes.

“We feel we’ve got a good attack with the ball, both spin and pace and the batting line-up’s really strong as well.”

England will feel a turning deck could play into their hands with Sophie Ecclestone and late addition to their squad Kirstie Gordon, who suffered a stress fracture to the back last year, both potential match winners.

Australia ripped through England in the ODIs.

Knight said England will look to pick a side to take advantage of the conditions, which could well see them rely on this unusual dual slow left-arm combination.

“It looks a little bit dry, I think it will generally play OK to start with but obviously we’ll have to see how it adapts as the game goes on,” Knight said.

“We obviously need a result so we want a pitch that will be conducive to that, but I think the last few pitches we’ve played on have been very flat and slow ... I think it will be slightly different to that.

“We will work out what our best combination is to get 20 wickets, which we have to do to get a result.”

England needs to win the one-off Test and the final three Twenty20 internationals to win back the Ashes after Ellyse Perry led Australia to a 6-0 points lead in the series following the ODI part of the series.

— with AAP