Sri Lanka’s former captain Angelo Mathews has questioned the double standards in how cricket pitches are judged, following England captain Harry Brook’s criticism of the wicket used for the second ODI in Sri Lanka, which he called the worst he had ever played on.
Mathews responded by pointing out that pitches favoring seam and swing in countries like England and Australia are often praised as “sporting,” while spin-friendly surfaces in the subcontinent are frequently labelled poor.
“Whenever Asian teams play overseas on green pitches with lots of grass and movement, it is called a sporting wicket. But when it turns in the subcontinent, it is suddenly a bad pitch. That doesn’t seem fair,” Mathews said.
He added that truly bad pitches are those that pose a danger to players, citing inconsistent bounce that can cause injuries. “To me, bad wickets are ones that take off from a good length and can harm batters. Those are dangerous to play on,” he explained.
Brook made his comments after England leveled the three-match ODI series, saying the surface was the worst he had played on despite chasing 220 runs.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka rejected Brook’s assessment, noting that both teams scored more than 440 runs on the wicket. He also recalled England’s collapse for 156 against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2023, pointing out that similar criticism of the pitch was not raised then.
The debate has reignited long-standing discussions over pitch bias in international cricket, with many players and analysts arguing that spin-friendly surfaces are often unfairly criticised compared to seam-friendly tracks in traditional cricketing nations.
