Lord’s groundsman hits back at criticism of pitch

There are no plans to do major work on the Lord’s pitch, despite Surrey director of cricket Chris Adams saying it is in its worst ever condition.

He spoke out following his side’s three-wicket County Championship defeat by Middlesex yesterday, when the visitors lost their last six wickets for just 36 runs.

Adams blamed the batting collapse on the state of the surface but Lord’s head groundsman, Mick Hunt, defended its condition. He said: “There were low scores everywhere. The game was there for Surrey to win and I’m sure they will be disappointed that they didn’t.

“Pitch preparing is always difficult this early in the season due to the weather. You can often find pitches in that condition around April.

“We had been preparing the pitch for 12 days in advance so there was no danger of under preparing.

“There were no complaints about the pitch from any of the umpires.”

Meanwhile, Stuart Law will step down as Bangladesh coach when his contract expires in June, citing family reasons for his resignation after nine months in the role.

The announcement comes a day after the Tigers confirmed a two‑match tour of Pakistan later this month, and within a month of the team finishing runners-up in the Asia Cup to the same opponents.