CARDIFF’S pitch has come under scrutiny with just over seven weeks to go until the first Test of the 2009 Ashes, after Glamorgan were docked two points for next season’s Friends Provident Trophy for preparing a substandard service in their recent contest against Essex.

An ECB Pitch Panel comprising Mike Denness and Tony Pigott interviewed the umpires, captains and coaches, and confirmed that the wicket used for the Friends Provident match on May 12 “demonstrated excessive turn and should therefore be rated ‘poor’.”

After bowling first in the match, Essex at one stage reduced Glamorgan to 57 for 7 before a partial recovery to 124 all out, with the Pakistani leg-spinner Danish Kaneria claiming 4 for 16 in ten overs.

The panel’s verdict heaps extra pressure onto the Glamorgan administration, who were controversially awarded the opening Test of the Ashes after winning over the ECB with a staging-rights bid of £3 million, backed by the Welsh Assembly.

The refurbished Sophia Gardens, now known as the Swalec Stadium, has staged just one international match since securing the Ashes Test – England’s final ODI against South Africa in September 2008, which was abandoned after three overs because of poor drainage.

Though the outfield has since been relaid, the pressure has scarcely let up on Glamorgan since then. The chief executive, Mike Fatkin, and the head groundsman Len Smith both left their posts in the aftermath of the South Africa match, leading the chairman, Paul Russell, to describe the county as “a pretty dysfunctional family”.

England’s players and pundits have long been unimpressed with the decision to hand Cardiff an Ashes Test ahead of more popular venues such as Old Trafford and Trent Bridge.

Earlier this week, Shane Warne joined the chorus by telling Sky Sports that it was a “disgrace” to take the opening fixture away from the game’s most traditional venue, Lord’s.

Privately, however, the England think-tank will be delighted that the venue for the first Test is shaping up as a turning wicket.

Since the retirement of Warne and Stuart MacGill, Australia have struggled to find a Test-class spinner, while England have hit upon two in Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar. On this evidence, both men can expect to be named in the first-Test squad. (Cricinfo)