"Not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball" - Joe Root slams "substandard" Lord's pitch
English skipper Joe Root has publicly criticized the Lord's surface for England's match against Ireland, which saw 40 wickets fall in just over 175 overs. While England were dismissed for 85 in the first innings, Ireland, chasing 182, were bundled out for just 38 runs in the fourth innings.
England survived a major scare on Friday as they convincingly defended 181 runs to escape defeats from the hands of their noisy neighbors Ireland. After being knocked over for just 85 runs in the first innings, the English pacers fought back in the fourth innings, as they dismissed Ireland for just 38 runs under 16 overs, the fifth-lowest total in Test history.
However, the Lord's surface, which provided an enormous amount of swing and seam throughout the entirety of the match, has been the hot topic of discussion and has come under criticism from many, including England's skipper, Joe Root. Root blasted the nature of the surface, criticizing the imbalance between bat and ball which saw 40 wickets fall in just over 175 overs.
"Not even close to a fair contest between bat and ball throughout the whole game. First innings, last innings, that tells a story in itself when the scores are as low as that on a surface," said a furious Root, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
While bowler-friendly pitches is a common sighting in England, never has there been a pitch in the past decade which has offered such an advantage to the pacers, almost an unfair one. With the Lord's set to host the second Test of the Ashes, Root was questioned if he feels a similar pitch will be seen on August 14. But the 28-year-old was confident of not seeing a similar track during the Ashes, while also labeling the conditions dished out against Ireland as "extreme".
"We'll have to wait and see if it is similar. Don't think it will be. There's always different challenges to playing in England. It does do a little bit more than most places, through the air for longer, off the surface a little bit more, especially in the first innings. You have to find ways of coping with that. It was extreme in this game," he said.
While England managed to come out of the encounter unscathed, question marks still hang over the credibility of their batting ahead of the Ashes, and Root admitted that the players were still recovering from the hangover of the World Cup victory, trying to make the transition from ODI cricket to Test cricket, but said that everyone was mentally going in the right direction.
"We've never been in a position where we've won a World Cup so for half the side to be part of that and then very quickly adjust to Test cricket is unusual. It is what it is. You have to suck it up and get on with it," he said.
"It's not been perfect but we've dealt with it pretty well. It's hard to look too much into performances on there but mentally coping with it I think we've done alright." he added.
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