England vs India 2014: 2nd Test, Day 3 - Furore over groundsman's "honest mistake" at Lord's

FILE PHOTO: An ‘honest mistake’ by a groundsman at Lord’s hasn’t gone down well with many

A ‘genuine, honest mistake’ by a groundsman during the lunch break at Lord’s on Day 3 has caught everyone’s attention with people debating whether it was deliberate or not.

During the lunch break today, a groundsman cleaning the pitch appeared to deliberately drag his foot on the danger area of the pitch.

Ex-England cricketer Kevin Pietersen posted this short video on Instagram:

The ‘protected’ or ‘danger’ area is the central part of the pitch in shape of a rectangle, two feet wide and starting from five feet from either crease. The laws of cricket state that a bowler should not step on this part of the pitch in his/her follow-through. Since the ball is pitched here, it’s necessary to avoid any external damage to this area, so as to avoid any unfair advantage to the bowling side.

Umpires can give a warning, followed by banning a bowler from bowling in that innings, if he/she steps on it too often.

The groundsman in the video appears to be dragging his right foot over the concerned area, resulting in shock and outrage on microblogging site Twitter. In an apology via its official Twitter handle, MCC said that it was a ‘genuine, honest mistake’ by the groundsman, and he didn’t intend to damage the pitch.

RE: the groundsman, MCC admits a genuine, honest mistake, and there was no intent to damage the pitch. #EngvInd

— Lord's Ground (@HomeOfCricket) July 19, 2014

However, not everyone was convinced.

Michael Vaughan smelled something sinister in it:

This is a little sniffy.....http://t.co/BwUDD9H0Bq

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 19, 2014

While Kevin Pietersen surely didn’t believe this was ‘unintentional’:

“@michaelw1360: @KP24 dragging his foot down the wicket, how he get away with that. Unbelievable” he cannot! He knew what he was doing!

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 19, 2014

Another Twitter user was quick to point out how the incident would have drawn greater controversy had it happened elsewhere.

@HomeOfCricket If that had happened in India- Twitter would be full of allegations about betting syndicates.

— Mick Bower (@MickBower1) July 19, 2014

Some were quite quick to utter the ‘S’ word

@HomeOfCricket You are killing the name yourself.. No one from England should ever talk abt spirit of cricket..

— Dhinakaran (@Dhinakar12) July 19, 2014

There’s been a tremendous focus on the pitches in this series, with the surface at Nottingham for 1st Test attracting severe criticism from everyone for being a ‘flat deck’. It resulted in an apology from the Trent Bridge groundsman and a draw. David Boon, the ICC match referee for the Test, termed the pitch ‘poor’.

The whole brouhaha resulted in the focus shifting to the surface at the ‘Home of cricket’, with both teams expecting a better pitch. Though Lord’s groundsman Mick Hunt promised a sporting surface, everyone was surprised to find an overly green covering on the first day, prompting England captain Alastair Cook to bowl first after winning the toss.

The first day saw helpful bowling conditions, with prodigious swing on offer in the first hour or so. Despite the conditions, India were able to score their highest first innings total at Lord’s, with a fine century from Ajinkya Rahane.

On the 2nd day, India folded on 295, followed by a determined and disciplined bowling effort from Indian bowlers which saw England all out for 319 on the third day. The pitch is expected to offer turn to spinners on the last two days, and with England batting last on this pitch, the groundsman’s ‘mistake’ expectedly didn’t go down well with everyone.