{"id":285765,"date":"2025-11-27T08:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T08:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/285765\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T08:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T08:08:08","slug":"perth-pitch-not-the-problem-for-england-in-first-ashes-test-as-it-receives-highest-icc-rating-ashes-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/285765\/","title":{"rendered":"Perth pitch not the problem for England in first Ashes Test as it receives highest ICC rating | Ashes 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

England only have themselves to blame for their two-day capitulation in Perth, after the pitch for the first Ashes Test received the top rating possible by the International Cricket<\/a> Council.<\/p>\n

The \u201cvery good\u201d assessment by the ICC match referee was made on a pitch with \u201cgood carry, limited seam movement, and consistent bounce early in the match, allowing for a balanced contest between batters and bowlers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Australia defeated England in the first Test in Perth by eight wickets in under two days.<\/p>\n

The tourists were well placed on day two with a lead of over 100 runs with nine wickets in hand.<\/p>\n

However, a middle-order collapse ended their innings in under 35 overs, and within hours Travis Head had guided Australia to victory.<\/p>\n

According to statistician Dave Middleton, it was the shortest Ashes Test in 137 years.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia\u2019s chief of cricket, James Allsopp, offered praise to the Perth ground staff and head curator, Isaac McDonald.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe match referee\u2019s \u2018very good\u2019 rating justifies our belief Perth Stadium produced a pitch that provided a fair balance between bat and ball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dominance of some brilliant pace bowling from both sides and the frenetic nature of the contest meant the match lasted only two days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brevity of the first Ashes Test disappointed fans who had made the trip to Perth, one of the world\u2019s most remote major cities.<\/p>\n

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It has also forced those connected to the game to scramble to enact contingencies<\/a>, and cost Cricket Australia approximately $4m in lost revenue.<\/p>\n

Despite the frustrations, Allsopp said the first Test must be considered a success, with Channel Seven reporting a TV audience up 60% compared with last year\u2019s contest against India<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was disappointing for fans holding tickets for days three and four, but we saw some incredible moments which captivated huge viewing audiences and will inspire even more kids to pick up a bat and ball this summer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always, we want to ensure pitches across Australia have their own characteristics and we\u2019re looking forward to another enthralling contest under lights at the Gabba starting next Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England only have themselves to blame for their two-day capitulation in Perth, after the pitch for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-285765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}