ICC awards Pallekele one demerit point

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has awarded the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy a single demerit point after match referee Ranjan Madugalle of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh rated the pitch as 'below average', ICC informed in a press release today. 

"The character of the pitch hardly changed over the course of five days. There was no shift in balance between bat and ball as the game progressed. The pitch remained batting friendly throughout, resulting in a total of 1289 runs scored in the match for the loss of 17 wickets at an average of 75.82 runs per wicket, which is very high. Therefore, in keeping with the ICC guidelines I rate this pitch as below average," Madugalle was quoted as saying about the pitch in Kandy in the press release. 

As per the revised ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, one demerit point is to be awarded to venues whose pitches are rated by the match referees as below average, while three and five demerit points will be awarded to venues whose pitches are marked as poor and unfit, respectively. The demerit points would remain active for a rolling five-year period. 

The first Test, which resulted in a draw, saw one double hundred, three centuries and four fifty-plus scores while bowlers struggled throughout the five-day period.