Earlier, Gambhir called him 'just a groundsman' during the verbal spat, when the former cricketer turned coach was instructed to stand 2.5 metres away from the pitch. Lee Fortis was named the ECB curator of the year for the last three years in a row for his dedication
Lee Fortis (Pic: X/@RichKettle07)
Most pitch curators are possessive about the main square of a cricket field, but the chief curator at The Oval, Lee Fortis, has taken the obsession to the next level.
Days after his heated exchange with Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir, which turned him into a villain among Indian cricketers and fans, Fortis cleared the air by saying that he was never a villain.
"Well, I was never the villain, I was made into one. Hope you guys enjoyed the show, and the atmosphere was like the IPL. It was a great game," Fortis said on a lighter note after a busy week at his Oval office.
Earlier, Gambhir had called him "just a groundsman" during the verbal spat, when the former cricketer-turned-coach was instructed to stand 2.5 metres away from the pitch.
Speaking about the Indian head coach, Fortis simply labelled him as "tetchy".
Not long after Team India pacer Mohammed Siraj struck the wicket of Gus Atkinson to register a famous victory at The Oval, the head curator was back near the main square to oversee preparations for The Hundred matches, scheduled to begin on 9 August.
Lee Fortis has been named the ECB Curator of the Year for the last three years in a row for his dedication.
During the fifth and final Test match against England, India’s Mohammed Siraj emerged as a hero for the visitors. He was named the Player of the Match for his crucial contributions in the final clash of the contest. The pacer claimed four wickets for 86 runs in the first innings and returned with figures of five wickets for 104 runs in the second essay.
Apart from him, a lot of newcomers stepped up to the occasion for Team India. From Sai Sudharsan to Akash Deep, the players showcased signs of reliability for the future. Additionally, the five-match Test series ended on a positive note for Shubman Gill, for whom it was his debut series as a captain. Surely, not the result he wanted, but nothing better could have come from the series than learning from a loss in the final match.
(With PTI Inputs)
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