England captain Jos Buttler has slammed the outfield in the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala ahead of their ICC ODI World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. While Bangladesh just defeated Afghanistan at the same stadium, England lost its opening World Cup game to New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
The outfield for Bangladesh’s six-wicket victory over Afghanistan on Saturday was judged “average” by the match authorities despite its patchwork appearance and sandy foundation, which may have contributed to Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s knee sticking into the ground while diving to stop a boundary.
Mujeeb was “lucky” to escape a serious injury, according to Afghanistan’s coach Jonathan Trott, who also warned England players about the state of the outfield.
Buttler also questioned the venue’s suitability 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 obviously 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 pre-match presser.
Buttler Says Not Asking Players To Dive To Save Them From Injury Isn’t Questioning The Integrity Of The Game
Buttler went on to add that while he and a few others had played at the venue earlier this year during the IPL, the surface on offer wasn’t the same. Having received an ‘average’ rating in the match referee’s report after the first game, the outfield in Dharamsala was deemed good to go for the England-Bangladesh game on Tuesday.
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 and be 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.”
