Cricket pitches can be unpredictable. Pitches are adjusted to fit the home side's desire. However, cracks can be created in the process. Most cracks are harmless and can be beneficial to some.
On the other hand, some can be dangerous and force a match to be abandoned. This has happened more often than believed.
Since the introduction of ICC's pitch and outfield monitoring process in 2006, 14 international pitches have been rated poor or worse by match referees. Nine of the 14 pitches have belonged to ICC full members. If the five matches in Canada - four of them within two days - are taken out, four of the remaining nine pitches to face sanction have been in India.
A domestic match in the West Indies has been abandoned for a dangerous pitch after batter, Jeremiah Louis, was hit on the helmet.
Leeward Islands' Louis was taken to hospital with a possible concussion after a length ball from Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies seamer, Jayden Seales, reared and hit him in the side of the head during the first session of day three.
Initially angling into his pads, the ball deviated massively after bouncing, rising and smacking him on the helmet. Louis turned away and fell to the floor as the fielding team – Seales included – went to check if he was ok.
Louis fell to the floor before removing his helmet and beating the ground in frustration. He then kicked his helmet in the direction of a short-leg fielder and walked towards the pavilion.
A Cricket West Indies (CWI) statement said Louis is in a stable condition. The statement added the match, held at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium in Antigua, had been called off because the playing surface displayed "unpredictable and uneven behaviour, raising serious concerns for player safety."
"Following discussions with the curator, it was determined that the pitch could not be safely repaired without creating an unfair advantage and was therefore deemed unfit to resume, resulting in the match being abandoned as a draw," it added.
Prior to the abandonment, Seales had taken all seven wickets as Leeward Islands fell to 140-7.
"It is also important to note that the surface used for the Leeward Islands vs. Trinidad and Tobago match is one of six pitches available at the venue and differs from the one used for match one of the Guyana vs. Windward Islands series."
“CWI will continue to prioritize player safety while ensuring the highest standards of pitch preparation and match operations across all venues.”
The stadium, which regularly hosts international cricket, is supposed to host the final of the tournament - West Indies' domestic first-class competition - from 17 May.
CWI said "all necessary resources and expertise will be deployed to ensure the preparation of a safe and competitive playing surface."
In 2020, Match officials stopped play in the third Test between South Africa and India because of a dangerous pitch, an extremely rare decision taken after South African batsman, Dean Elgar, was hit in the grill of the helmet by a bouncer from fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah and needed a concussion test.
The move by match officials to take players off because of concerns over their safety was only the third time in the history of test cricket that a game has been stopped in this way.
The game wasn't completely called off, though. After meetings involving match officials and team captains, Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, it was decided the test would continue on Saturday, the International Cricket Council said.
''The on-field umpires, in consultation with the match referee, and after speaking with both the captains and groundsmen, have decided that the Johannesburg Test will resume on time on Saturday,'' the ICC said in a statement.
Cricket's ruling body said on-field umpires, Ian Gould and Aleem Dar, had called players off because they wanted to consult with match referee Andy Pycroft ''regarding the condition of the pitch.'' The umpires would continue to monitor the pitch, the ICC said.
Elgar was the latest in a series of batsmen from both teams to be hit by the ball on a fast, bouncy and unpredictable surface at the Wanderers. He was the first to be hit on the head, though, with others getting struck on the fingers and in the ribs and midriff.
''I think that if it's hitting the rib cage or the fingers, I think you can maybe get away with it,'' South Africa team manager Mohammed Moosajee said. ''But if it's hitting a batsman in the face...''
There had been warnings.
Former West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding, a cricket great and working as a TV commentator at the Wanderers, said earlier in the day - when India batsman Murali Vijay was hit a number of times - that the game should be stopped.
''This is not a cricket pitch, this is dangerous. Call it off, forget it,'' Holding told the cricinfo.com website. ''You can't play cricket on that.''
The incident completely overshadowed the test and the series. India batted through most of the day on the pitch and fought its way to a position of dominance, thanks to a determined 48 from Rahane and 41 from Kohli.
South Africa was 17-1 and struggling when Elgar was hit.
As he received treatment, the umpires came together and match referee Pycroft emerged from his office and onto the playing field to talk with them. The players were then directed to leave the field but India's team was clearly reluctant.
''We have not prepared this wicket. It's a South African wicket. We have come and played here,'' Subramanian said, putting the blame squarely on the home team and ground staff. ''We're willing to play.''
The rights and wrongs of taking the players off for dangerous conditions are complex in a sport where batsmen are regularly hit in the hands, arms, ribs, and even helmet by the ball. It's considered part of the game.
The Wanderers in Johannesburg has a reputation for being a fast, bouncy wicket that's difficult for batsmen. The problem is that this particular pitch has also been littered with cracks; which makes the bounce and direction of the ball unpredictable and far more difficult for batsmen to read. When you combine cracks with a fast wicket, it can become dangerous.
Elgar was hit by what appeared to be a regular bouncer from Bumrah, another complaint from India. There was an argument that the condition of the pitch had shaken him up and contributed to him being hit.
''Player safety is, in my opinion, paramount,'' South Africa coach Ottis Gibson said. Gibson said that South Africa captain du Plessis had already expressed concerns over the pitch when India was batting.
Here is a list of the nine full-member pitches:
India v South Africa, 3rd Test, Kanpur, 2007-08
Rating: Poor
Reason: Too dry and too much turn and variable bounce
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama
What happened: Trailing 1-0, after being bowled out for 76 on a moist pitch in Ahmedabad, India defeated South Africa in three days to level the series. South Africa were bowled out for 121 in the second innings. "My considered view is that the pitch was poor as it was too dry and had considerable turn and variable bounce from the first day... The pitch was not up to Test match standards," said Mahanama in his report.
"It was a poor cricket wicket, though I can understand the reason behind it," South Africa's then coach Micky Arthur said. "But the practice facilities and the accommodation left a lot to be desired for an international venue."
The fallout: Kanpur got away with an official warning because it had no previous record of producing a substandard pitch
India v Sri Lanka, 5th ODI, Delhi, 2009-10
Rating: Unfit
Reason: Random, dangerous and uneven bounce
Match referee: Alan Hurst
What happened: India had already won the five-match ODI series when they came to Delhi for the last match but only 23.3 overs were bowled before it was decided the pitch offered "extremely variable bounce and was too dangerous for further play." The bounce varied from shin to shoulder height from similar areas.
The fallout: Feroz Shah Kotla was banned from hosting international cricket for a year but that was actually a reprieve: had the ICC imposed the maximum penalty of two years, Delhi would have lost out on 2011 World Cup matches.
The BCCI sacked its grounds and pitches committee, headed then by Daljit Singh, who duly came back and still heads the committee.
West Indies v South Africa, 2nd Test, St Kitts, 2010
Rating: Poor
Reason: Too flat
Match referee: Jeff Crowe
What happened: Nineteen wickets fell over five days as South Africa declared at 543-6, only for West Indies to overhaul the total (546). "This was not an exciting surface on which to play Test cricket," South Africa captain, Graeme Smith, said. "We were all looking for a good, even battle between bat and ball. Hopefully, Barbados [next Test] will have a little bit more in the pitch, and it will be more of a fair challenge for both sides."
The ICC noted that "it was remnants of a T20 pitch from a few weeks ago".
The fallout: After due consideration, the rating was changed to "below average." No penalty or fines were dished out.
Sri Lanka v Australia, 1st Test, Galle, 2011
Rating: Poor
Reason: Excessive spin early on and further deterioration
Match referee: Chris Broad
What happened: The Test ended on the fourth day with spinners taking 18 of the first 30 wickets to fall. In the last innings, fast bowler Ryan Harris took a five-for as Australia won by 125 runs. However, Australia captain, Michael Clarke and his predecessor, Ricky Ponting, said day one felt like day five.
David Richardson, then the ICC's general manager for cricket, said: "It was clear from the video footage of the match that the amount of turn, especially early in the match, was excessive and there were occasions (even on the first day) where the ball went through the surface of the pitch, bouncing unusually steeply from a good length."
The fallout: The ground was officially warned and ICC's pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson, was to inspect the pitch before it hosted further international cricket. Galle remains one of Sri Lanka's iconic Test venues.
England v India, 1st Test, Nottingham, 2014
Rating: Poor
Reason: Too flat
Match referee: David Boon
What happened: The first Test of the series brought a glut of runs, including 81 from no. 11, James Anderson and twin fifties for no. 9, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It was widely touted as a "chief executive's pitch", designed to ensure gate receipts over five days. Anderson the bowler was left frustrated that edges didn't carry on the low and slow surface.
The fallout: An official warning and a requirement for the ground to furnish the ECB pitch consultant's report before international cricket the next season.
India v South Africa, 3rd Test, Nagpur, 2015
Rating: Poor
Reason: Excessive turn and uneven bounce throughout the match
Match referee: Jeff Crowe
What happened: After losing the ODI and T20I series to South Africa, in the words of India director Ravi Shastri, India took a chance and rolled out a turner in the first Test of the series in Mohali. That three-day finish paled in comparison with the third Test, in Nagpur, where the degree of turn, the bounce, and the pace off the pitch were all variable. South Africa were bowled out for 79 in their first innings; India's 215 on day one was the highest score of the match.
The fallout: An official warning was given even though the BCCI questioned the rating. In the World T20 the same season, Nagpur produced mainly turning tracks with India bowled out for, well, 79 in the tournament opener against New Zealand.
India v Australia, 1st Test, Pune, 2017
Rating: Poor
Reason: Loose soil on both ends and spinners' deliveries exploding from the surface early in the match
Match referee: Chris Broad
What happened: After beating New Zealand, England and Bangladesh emphatically in a long home season, India went for a turner in Pune; against the wishes of the local curator. Australia enjoyed the advantage of batting first and then their spinners became unstoppable. India made only 212 runs - their lowest match aggregate at home after losing 20 wickets.
The fallout: The ground was given a warning but was allowed to continue hosting international cricket. In October 2017, it hosted a low-scoring ODI in which seamers took the majority of the wickets. The pitch curator, Pandurang Salgaoncar, was involved in a much more serious controversy this time, as a TV channel claimed to have caught him on tape trading information about the pitch.
Australia v England, 4th Test, MCG, 2017
Rating: Poor
Reason: Pitch neither favoured the batsmen too much nor gave the bowlers sufficient opportunity to take wickets
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle
What happened: The MCG's curator had resigned and his replacement was yet to arrive, so the preparation of the pitch for the Boxing Day Test of the 2017-18 Ashes was left in the hands of the arena operations manager. He tried to play it safe by leaving little grass on the surface and repeatedly rolling it, but the result was a pitch that did not deteriorate over the five days.
In addition, the bounce, according to Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, was "medium, but slow in pace and got slower as the match progressed." Only 24 wickets were taken during the Test, while the runs came at less than three an over. Steven Smith, the Australia captain, criticised the pitch for offering nothing to the bowlers. "We saw some reverse swing, but the ball just gets so soft so quickly because the surface is quite hard," he said. "It gets soft, doesn't carry through, and it's really difficult to get people out. I just don't think it's good for anyone."
I believe pitches should be tested prior to matches being played. This will ensure complete player safety. The last thing anyone wants to see is a player/s being hurt and, at it's worst, see them go to the hospital. I would agree that cracks on the pitch are part of the game.