PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja has described Pakistani pitches as being from the “dark ages.”

Pakistan’s top cricket official said Friday that his country’s pitches were “from the dark ages” after England scored heavily on a lifeless wicket in Rawalpindi.

The tourists were bowled out for 657, with four batsmen reaching triple digits against the poor Pakistani bowling. On day one, Thursday, the visitors set a record with 506 runs.

Friday night’s play ended with Pakistan’s opening pair, Abdullah Shafique on 89 and Imam-ul-Haq on 90, both within striking distance of a century in response.

Former national captain and current chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Ramiz Raja was “not satisfied at all” about the pitch’s condition, calling it “not a great advert for Test cricket.”

He said to the press, “We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan; it’s embarrassing for us, especially if you have a cricketer as chairman.”

In March of this year, Pakistan and Australia played to a dull draw on the same field, scoring a combined 1,187 runs while losing only 14 wickets.

In his report, International Cricket Council match referee Ranjan Madugalle rated Rawalpindi as “below ordinary” and docked the city one demerit point.

If a location receives five penalties in a period of five years, it is barred from hosting events for a term of one year.

Since the early 2000s, security concerns have prevented several Test matches from being played in Pakistan.

Because of the backlash earlier this year, Raja consulted an Australian expert named Damien Hough, who proposed the use of temporary, drop-in pitching.

Drop-in pitches are our “way out,” Raja added.

“In order to bowl out England, for instance, we need to set up a drop-in pitch that spins on the first ball.

“It beats having this patchwork approach, where you get a pitch that has neither speed nor spin,” he said.

The surface was relatively calm, but Raja said England still did well.

There has never been first-day batting like England’s, he remarked.

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