Ben Stokes shared his candid opinion on the pitch used for the first Test between England and New Zealand at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground in London last week. Alongside prodigious swing, the two-paced nature of the surface tipped the scales heavily in favour of the bowlers, as they had the batters dancing to their tunes.
The match would have gotten over inside three days if not for the rain. England scored 140 and 226 in their two innings, while the Kiwis managed 113 and 138. The tourists lost
the match by 115 runs as England emerged victorious in the 150th Test match at Lord's.
England captain Stokes said that such pitches won't help in the progress and sustainability of the longest format of the game.
According to BBC statistics, it was the lowest balls-per-wicket ratio recorded in England since 1907. Of the 40 wickets that fell in the contest, 24 came either bowled or lbw, highlighting the challenges posed by the pitch.
"I get asked a lot about the future of Test cricket and what we need to do to keep it growing," Stokes was quoted as saying by India Today after the match.
"As someone who loves Test cricket, my one thing to say is: is this something that will benefit Test cricket going forward? I don't think so," he added.
Stokes urged the curators to make more balanced surfaces where a fair battle between bat and ball can be witnessed.
"If there wasn't any rain, the game's going to end early. Is that what we want to end up doing? You sort of want to find somewhere in the middle," he said.
The second Test is scheduled to be played at the Kennington Oval in London. New Zealand are 0-1 down and will look to bounce back strongly. Another defeat for them would make the third Test in Nottingham inconsequential and severely dent their chances of reaching the World Test Championship final.
