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Nottinghamshire executive: Pitch conditons at Trent Bridge not 'lifeless'

Nottinghamshire's chief executive Lisa Pursehouse dismisses claims the club "deliberately prepared a lifeless Trent Bridge pitch."
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Aside from Murali Vijay's Test century, the big talk on the opening day of Test 1 between England and India was the pitch conditions of Trent Bridge.

Sam Sheringham of BBC Sport reports that Nottinghamshire's chief executive, Lisa Pursehouse, "has dismissed claims the club deliberately prepared a lifeless Trent Bridge pitch."

Sheringham describes the pitch as "slow and low," which caused problems for the fast English bowlers, and writes that "several balls bounced twice before reaching the wicketkeeper." The playing surface also appeared to play to Vijay's strengths.

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Pursehouse said that the notion that she purposefully influenced the playing surface is "silly." 

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"The idea that as a chief executive I would put pressure on to produce any sort of pitch is a bit silly actually," Lisa Pursehouse said.

Pursehouse admitted head groundsman Steve Birks might have made an error in his pitch preparation - a point conceded by Birks himself on Nottinghamshire's website  - but insisted judgement on the pitch should be reserved until later in the match, and promised an "inquest" would be held if the game petered out to a draw.

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- Sarah Barshop