England opener Joe Root has put the blame on 'doctored pitches' for his side's extremely slow over-scoring during the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval.
According to News.com.au, England's 'made-to-order' dry and dusty have contributed to a Test 'borefest', with just 215 runs scored in 98.3 overs on Friday.
Blaming the pitch for being too slow and hard to time the ball on, Root, who scored 68 as England meandered to 4-247 in 116 overs at stumps on day three, said that even prolific batsmen like Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, who score quite fluently, have found it hard to score on such pitches throughout the summer.
According to Root, a batsman wants to play on flat wickets and score as many runs as he can, although he added that he will not get many results in that way if he wants to help his team win the series.
Denying suggestions that England had already begun playing for a draw despite the crawling scoring rate of little more than two an over, Root further said that even though they have played some tough cricket, it is not always easy to score at four an over, especially with Australia bowling well and making it hard for them to score fluently.
Root also said that entertaining a sell-out crowd, which had paid 150 dollars-a-ticket, was only part of the players' responsibilities, adding that they need to play the situation.
Even though the report said that there was tension out on the ground at times, with players exchanging words, particularly Australian captain Michael Clarke and Kevin Pietersen, Root believed that the teams will socialize at the end of the series.