England captain Jos Buttler called the outfield at the HPCA stadium in Dharamshala ‘poor’ ahead of their encounter with Bangladesh on Tuesday, October 10 in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 tournament.
England has already lost its first World Cup match to New Zealand in Ahmedabad, while Bangladesh is coming off a victory against Afghanistan at the same venue.
The outfield was rated "average" by the match officials for Bangladesh's six-wicket win over Afghanistan on Saturday, despite its patchy appearance and sandy base which contributed to Mujeeb Ur Rahman's knee digging into the surface when diving to save a boundary.
Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan's coach, said Mujeeb was "lucky" to avoid a serious injury and contacted England players to warn them about the outfield's condition.
Buttler also questioned the venue's readiness to host a World Cup fixture, after urging his England players to be careful when diving in the deep.
"I think it's poor, in my own opinion. I think any time you're talking about being careful diving, or maybe being careful when you're fielding, it goes against everything you want to be as a team. You want to dive through a row of houses to save a run. That's not ideal, the way the surface is, the outfield. But we won't use it as an excuse. We'll adapt to it. But certainly, if you feel like you're having to hold yourself back, it's not a place you want to be as a team, or as a player, or in a World Cup match,” Buttler told reporters during the pre-match presser.
Asked whether he was happy that the game was going ahead, Buttler said: "The powers that be are comfortable. The only thing I would question is if you are telling players not to dive and stuff, does that question the integrity of the game?
You want to put your body on the line, trying to save every single run and have confidence in the field. It's not as good as it could be, or should be. Naturally, you want to be instinctive in the field: if you see a ball, you want to dive for it. So it's unique, to be honest, and I know it's going to be the same for both teams. But if you're having to hold yourself back, you shouldn't have to feel like that. Hopefully, fingers crossed, no one on either side picks up an unfortunate injury.”
Buttler also spoke about Ben Stokes’ availability for the Bangladesh match and confirmed that the all-rounder is recovering well from a hip injury. Buttler also said that Stokes is unlikely to play against Bangladesh. Stokes had missed England’s opening tie against New Zealand as well.
"It's good to see him back in the nets and building back towards full fitness, but he's probably unlikely for tomorrow,” Buttler said during the pre-match presser.
(BBC/Indian Express inputs)
