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The captain of England cricket team, Jos Butter has termed the outfield at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala not ideal for hosting the matches of the ODI World Cup 2023. In the build-up to their match against Bangladesh, the 33-year-old spoke about how the English players will adapt to the tough conditions, which is going to be the same for both teams on October 10, Tuesday.
Chris Tetley, the head of events of the International Cricket Council (ICC) alongside the pitch consultant Andy Atkinson did an inspection of the Dharamsala outfield on October 8, Sunday, on their scheduled visit. ICC had granted an “average” rating for outfield at the HPCA Stadium, after Bangladesh got the better of Afghanistan by six wickets a day prior, which will allow the ODI World Cup 2023 to continue here, despite the concerns regarding the safety of the players.
Also Read: ICC ODI World Cup 2023: Will Ben Stokes feature in England's next match against Bangladesh?
Addressing the press on October 9, Monday, a day before their fixture against Bangladesh, the English captain Jos Buttler said the following about the Dharamsala outfield, as per Times of India, “It's poor in my own opinion. Any time you're talking about being careful diving or sort of being careful when you're fielding, it goes against everything you want to be as a team. So that's obviously not ideal, the way the surface is, the outfield. But we won't use it as an excuse, we'll adapt to it.”
The wicket-keeper batter for England also remarked that the players want to give their everything to save runs in the field, which isn’t going to be easy on an average rated outfield at the HPCA Stadium. He said, “You want to put your body on the line and be trying to save every single run or have confidence in the field. So, it's not as good as it could be or should be, but it's going to be the same for both teams, and the wicket looks fantastic.”
