Who is Lee Fortis, the Oval pitch curator Gautam Gambhir was yelling at
Gambhir can be heard yelling 'you don't tell us what we need to do'. Later, India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak had revealed that the Oval staff had tried to tell Indian team management when they had gone to check out the wicket to stand two and a half metres away. This had sparked the confrontation between India head coach Gambhir and Fortis, where he can be seen telling the India coach that he will raise a complaint with the match referee.
VIDEO | Indian team's head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen having verbal spat with chief curator Lee Fortis at The Oval Cricket Ground in London ahead of the last Test match of the series starting Thursday.
After having drawn the fourth Test at Old Trafford, India have a chance… pic.twitter.com/hfjHOg9uPf
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 29, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
So who is Lee Fortis, the Oval pitch curator Gautam Gambhir was yelling at?
Fortis has been in charge of the pitch at the Oval ion London since 2012, when he was brought on to replace Bill Gordon.
Before 2012, Fortis had previously worked as an assistant head groundsman at the Oval before leaving in 2006. He had a stint tending the Honourable Artillery Company ground in the City of London.
After taking charge of the Oval ground as Surrey's Head of Ground Staff, Fortis claimed the award for the best multi-day pitches for the third consecutive year at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) 2024 Grounds Manager of the Year Awards last year.
A statement from the Grounds Management Association (GMA) – the UK's leading membership body dedicated to supporting grounds staff – noted: 'Fortis and his team at the Oval earned consistently outstanding marks for their County Championship and Test pitches during the 2024 domestic and international season to win the Bernard Flack Memorial Trophy. This is also the fourth time in total that Fortis has scooped the prize since starting his role since 2012.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
10 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘Be serious about 20 wickets': Dinesh Karthik tells Gautam Gambhir after England tour, ‘Now he's taken control of the team..'
India head coach Gautam Gambhir was under intense scrutiny for his wretched Test results since October 2024 and the defeat in the Lord's Test last month only intensified criticisms. However, with India making a terrific comeback to draw the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-all after a stunning six-run win at the Oval earlier this week, Gambhir may have salvaged some of the lament and earned a cushion despite questions raised over the combinations of India's playing XI across all matches. Former India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik feels the time has come for Gambhir to raise his red-ball coaching credentials by showing faith in selecting teams that believe in picking 20 wickets as much as scoring runs with a deeper batting order. 'Gautam Gambhir had a very ordinary series vs New Zealand at home, goes without saying. He continued to have a poor series against Australia. Now, he has taken control of the team I feel. This is a team handpicked by him, this is a young team. He is the driving force of this team with Shubman,' Karthik said on Cricbuzz. Karthik argued that India's defensive make-up to the line-up ensured that India did not lose even if they weren't exactly in a postion to win matches outright. 'The one thing that I would think that he can do is, can he almost look at being serious about picking 20 wickets as much as he feels about depth in batting? He's a terrific white-ball coach and the results have been there for us to see. But, in Test cricket, he is also learning on the job. He is a young coach. He's not done too many five-day games, not too much domestic cricket for him to have that volume of experience. We don't know what language he speaks in the dressing room, but they are a bunch of fired up youngsters.' 'You could almost argue they picked a team not to lose. He is now getting his way, so he will be responsible for everything that happens in the Indian team. If it does well, credit to him. If it doesn't do well, he should put his hands up and say, 'we made a mistake',' Karthik added. 'For this England series, he should be proud of the effort the boys put in.'
Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
Konstas, McSweeney named in Australia A squad for four-day matches against India A
Sydney, Aug 7 (PTI) Australia openers Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney were on Thursday named in the 'A' squad bound to India to play two four-day matches in Lucknow in September, with an eye on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2026-27. Konstas had replaced McSweeney during the last India-Australia series Down Under but has failed to nail his spot at the top of the order, having endured a disappointing outing in Caribbean even as his side thoroughly dominated the West Indies. The 19-year-old Konstas is the only current Test player to be named in the 'A' side while the other capped players include McSweeney, Cooper Connolly and spinner Todd Murphy. Murphy, who has so far featured in seven Tests, played each of the four matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy during their India tour in 2022-23, which Australia lost 1-2, claiming 14 wickets. Australia's chairman of selectors George Bailey was quoted as saying by 'The subcontinent provides many unique challenges and the opportunity to utilise different skills with bat and ball.' "We hope repeated experiences in these conditions will assist players in developing an effective method and understanding of their game for future subcontinent tours." "For many of these players we remain interested in the development of their short-form cricket as well, but balancing out priorities meant we wanted them back and available for the start of the Sheffield Shield season,' he added. A notable miss in the red-ball squad are Jason Sangha, who scored 202 not out against Sri Lanka A in Darwin last month, and Matthew Renshaw, who too has the experience of playing Tests in India. Sangha, however, has been named in the one-day squad for the three matches to be played in Kanpur. The two four-day matches will be played in Lucknow from September 16-19 and September 23-26, while the three one-day games will be on September 30, October 3 and 5 respectively. Four-Day matches: Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Aaron Hardie, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Phillippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott. One-Day squad: Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Mackenzie Harvey, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, Callum Vidler.
Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Shubman Gill told he 'doesn't need' Jasprit Bumrah because Mohammed Siraj can win games now: 'Tell him we no longer...'
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between England and India definitely lived up to the high billing as the two teams produced some riveting action both on and off the field. It is only fitting for the series outcome to read 2-2 as neither team was above or beneath the other, although India did win more sessions. The decider at the Oval had everything going down to the wire before Mohammed Siraj's never-say-die attitude helped Shubman Gill's India register a narrow six-run win. Has Mohammed Siraj pipped Jasprit Bumrah to become Shubman Gill and India's No. 1 Test bowler?(AFP) Harry Brook and Joe Root scored centuries in the final innings as England looked set to chase down 374 to win the series 3-1. However, Brook's irresponsible shot opened the floodgates for India, and the visitors barged through the door to register a memorable win on Day 5. Days after the conclusion of the five-match series, The Hindustan Times spoke to former England spinner Monty Panesar about the high skill on display by both teams. Panesar, who was instrumental in helping England win a Test series in India in 2012, said Gill's side would rue the chance of not winning the series after being on top of England for most of the 25 days. He also discussed Siraj's workhorse-like ability and whether Joe Root can break Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Test cricket. Excerpt: Is 2-2 a fair reflection of how both teams played in the series? After a heavy workload of the IPL, India goes and plays a five-Test match series. Every given moment, they turned up. At Old Trafford, they drew the Test match. At Lords, it could have been anyone's game. They probably should have won that game, but England were very lucky with that wicket of Siraj. And then, at the Oval, they were brilliant. At the Oval, on the 5th day, overcast conditions, everything went in their favour. So, I think India played better cricket. I think the Oval test match victory was probably, actually, the moment when it showed that India won the series. Well, I think everyone took it by surprise. When Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin retired, everyone thought England would win the contest. But it shows the strength of Indian cricket. Shubman Gill rose to the challenge. I always thought that he was almost lazy in his footwork when he wasn't the captain, and now, he's phenomenal. And I think we're going to hopefully see the best of them in the next couple of years. Did Shubman Gill impress you as a captain? What did you make of his tactical acumen? He'll grow into the role. I think his career Test will probably come, how he does in India, really. And, more than turning pictures, you know, does he have the spinners to do that without Ashwin and Jadeja? Washington Sundar will be there, and it will be about whether he can live up to the expectations of Ashwin. I think Kuldeep Yadav has to play. He has to bring him into the equation somehow. But the biggest factor, as for Shubman here, is that he can win Test matches without Jasprit Bumrah. That's a massive acclaim. The best bowler in the world. He doesn't need him. I think India can win Test matches without Jasprit Bumrah. I think that's the biggest achievement from his captaincy. Mohammed Siraj basically put the concept of workload management to rest as he bowled more than 180 overs in the entire series. Was he the game-changer for India? Well, it just shows that Mohammed Siraj is the key now. They've got to build an attack around him. And his fitness is very important. Jasprit Bumrah doesn't have the fitness to play the five Test matches. So, he's again, in and out, kind of the guy to come in. But Mohammed Siraj can win the games now. As Bumrah has the X-factor, Mohamed Siraj is the key to whether they have a series win or not. So, for an overseas series away from India, Mohammed Siraj is very important now for Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill. Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar says, 'No batsman will like India pacer Mohammed Siraj' as he is… Should India start looking beyond Jasprit Bumrah in Tests? Or is there a case for him to play just overseas Tests? I think it's good if he does play the overseas Test matches, and probably you don't need him for home Test matches. India can beat any team at home probably without him, but for overseas Tests, he is the X-factor. They can probably tell him that we no longer need you for home Tests. But for the away Tests, we definitely do. Does this series result give Gautam Gambhir some breathing space as the head coach, considering there was a lot of pressure on him? I think Gautam Gambhir has a bit of time. The home series, when they play, is going to be massive. He cannot afford to lose another home series. If he wins, he will keep his job, but if he loses, I think times are up for Gautam Gambhir. India cannot afford to lose another series at home. Also Read: Chris Woakes didn't want to bat against 90mph bouncer from Siraj with one hand; felt 'exposed' on Day 5 vs India Joe Root scored his 39th Test ton at the Oval. Do you think he has it in him to break Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Tests? "He'll break it. He'll break it, and he'll go past it. I think he'll end up scoring 18,000 test runs. Because he's only 34, right? He's 34, he's got another 6 years. In 6 years, he'll probably score another 4,000-5,000 Test runs. So, Tendulkar played until 40, so he'll probably end up playing until 40. He'll break that, and he'll go past it. I think he'll end up scoring 18,000 test runs. Lastly, I have to ask you about England. How do you see their chances in the upcoming Ashes? I think Australia are the favourites because the attack is very strong. And England will have to find a way to score 400 consistently. They sometimes give it away, just like Jacob Bethell did in the Oval Test. He gave it away by dancing down the track. He got out, India got the momentum. I don't think England can afford to do that in Australia. They might just have to curb a little bit on Bazball in Australia.
