ICC readies back-up pitch to negate protesters

If the pitch gets hampered then the match officials will assess the pitch and see whether it is in good condition to play or not. If yes, they will continue playing on the same and if not then they will look at the other pitch condition and take a call on whether they can play on the other one or not, according to ANI.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said he hopes 'Just Stop Oil' protesters will not disrupt the World Test Championship final against India in London after his team's bus was held up on the way to training.

Protesters stopped traffic near The Oval on Monday and had to be cleared by police before the Australian team could reach the venue for training.

England's team bus was held up by the same group's protesters when heading to Lord's ahead of the first day of their one-off Test against Ireland last week.

"It's something we got in the security briefing a couple days ago," Cummins told reporters.

"I’ve heard that they're aware of it and kind of keeping an eye out. But that’s as much as we’ve heard.

"So hopefully, it doesn’t happen, obviously. But yeah, I’ve heard there’s a few different events that have been affected."

'Just Stop Oil' protesters halted the world snooker championship and the English Premiership rugby final in recent months.

One protester climbed onto a table and scattered a bag of orange powder paint at the snooker tournament while protesters invaded the pitch 15 minutes into the rugby match at Twickenham between Saracens and Sale.

Cummins has long voiced concerns about the impact of climate change but did not throw his weight behind the demonstrations.

"My view is always just there's right ways to go about things and potentially not the right way to go about things," he said.

"Whenever anyone's got any beliefs, you just hope you take the right option."

ESPNcricinfo reported that the International Cricket Council has prepared a back-up pitch at The Oval in case activists disrupt the final, which starts at 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) on Wednesday.

Keeping the threat in mind the security has been beefed up at the Kennington Oval cricket ground. The ICC have also made changes in their section 6.4 of the Playing Condition rule making an alternative pitch as per the ICC source.

If the pitch gets hampered then the match officials will assess the pitch and see whether it is in good condition to play or not. If yes, they will continue playing on the same and if not then they will look at the other pitch condition and take a call on whether they can play on the other one or not, according to ANI. 

Both the captains Rohit Sharma and Pat Cummins have been taken into confidence. If both agree to play after the pitch gets damaged then they will continue and if not then the match could get called off or abandoned.

What happens in case pitch is damaged by protesters?

Certain sections will play a crucial role depending on the circumstances that unfold during the WTC 2023 final.

First of all, if the on-field umpires determine that it is unsafe or unreasonable to continue playing on the match pitch, they shall halt the game and immediately inform the ICC match referee under 6.4.1.

Under 6.4.4, if the decision is to not resume the play, the on-field umpires will assess whether the existing pitch can be repaired and the match can resume from the point it was stopped in consultation with the ICC match referee.

The ICC match referee must consider whether this repair would unfairly advantage either side or not, given the play that had already taken place on the dangerous pitch.

Under 6.4.7, throughout the decision-making processes that are mentioned above, the ICC match referee will keep both captains and the head of the ground authority informed about the situation. The head of the ground authority will ensure appropriate public announcements are made timely.

The WTC final will begin at 3 pm IST from June 7 till June 11 at the Oval, London, a reserve day is also in place if the weather intervenes to spoil the sport.