Saturday 19 July 2014 12:41, UK
The Trent Bridge pitch used for the first Test between England and India has been marked 'poor' by the International Cricket Council's match referee.
Match referee David Boon delivered his verdict after a drawn game which saw England set a new record for a 10th-wicket partnership in Test cricket.
It is the first time a Test pitch in England has been marked so low, and the England and Wales Cricket Board now has two weeks to respond to the report.
Two leading ICC oficials - general manager Geoff Allardice and chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle - will then decide whether to uphold Boon's verdict and issue a punishment.
More than 1300 runs were scored in three innings at Nottingham, where Joe Root and James Anderson put on 198 for the final wicket in England's first-innings 496.
A press release from the world governing body read: "The International Cricket Council today announced that David Boon of the Emirates elite panel of ICC match referees, who was the match referee for the first Test between England and India in Nottingham, has rated the pitch used at Trent Bridge as "poor".
"In accordance with Clause 3 of the ICC pitch monitoring process, Mr Boon submitted his report to the ICC expressing his concerns over the quality of the pitch.
"This report has been forwarded to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which now has 14 days to provide its response."
ICC's general manager Geoff Allardice and chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle will then consider the response and evidence before a final decision is made on whether the pitch was "poor" and if so what penalty is in order.
England and Nottinghamshire fast bowler Stuart Broad led the criticism of the slow surface during the match, saying: "It's certainly not what England asked for and what Trent Bridge would have hoped for. Indian wickets are faster than that."
Groundsman Steve Birks admitted after just one day of the Test that the pitch was not up to scratch.
He said: "We wanted to produce a pitch with pace, bounce and carry which hasn’t happened unfortunately. Our only instruction is to produce a good cricket wicket and, with hindsight, we may have left a bit more grass on it."
