Sir Ian Botham has lashed out at pitches at Lord's and The Oval in the light of the drawn first Test.
In his column in the Daily Mirror Botham was highly critical of the domination of London, which has two Test venues, on touring itineraries. "Out of 25 Test matches since 2005, London has played host to 11 and the rest of the country has had 14. Of those 11 we have won just once, drawing nine and losing the other. Of the 14 games that have been allowed to be played elsewhere in the country, we have actually won 11 of those, drawn one and lost two. What is better for English cricket?"
"For me English cricket is about winning matches. If you continue to play on surfaces like this that are designed to last five days then you are going to kill the enthusiasm that exciting and result driven cricket creates.
"Lets put cricket before the coffers and if the powers that be haven't got the vision to see that an England winning side is going bring in more attention and more revenue than a side drawing matches and slipping down the rankings then we're in big trouble."
Taken from cricinfo.com
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvrsa/content/current/story/361407.html