Curator buzzing at prospect of great game on top deck
THE curator who produced a “belter” for last year’s T20I between Sri Lanka and Australia believes the pitch for tonight’s Big Bash League clash is capable of hitting greater heights.
Richard Winter — who has prepared wickets at the MCG, WACA, Gabba and Manuka Oval in his 30-year career — is confident the drop-in GMHBA Stadium pitch will be another beauty.
Melbourne Renegades captain Aaron Finch gave it the thumbs-up before his side’s training session yesterday.
Having produced 347 runs in last year’s one-off T20 match, in which Sri Lanka won on the final ball on the night, the pitch has been transported a few hundred metres from its home alongside the David Kelly Training Centre at Kardinia Park and delicately placed in the centre of GMHBA Stadium.
“It comes in and out for these games,” said Winter, who leads the team at Pitchcraft.
“It’s only a short distance to travel, but we’re lucky that we got it in here five or six weeks ago and it’s settled in well.
“It’s a nice, even grass cover and there’s a little tinge of green but we expect that to go away a bit overnight. The colour of the grass won’t matter, it’s a nice texture and it should be a great game.”
Winter has likened the wicket to the Gabba, which is synonymous for pace and bounce.
“This is Queensland soil, so it will play similar to the Gabba,” he said.
“Generally Gabba wickets are a little bit greener than other wickets around the country and it doesn’t have a bearing on it. It will play well, I’m confident of that.
“It was rain affected last year but it was a pretty exciting game and this pitch will be very similar.”
Up to 20 groundsmen have worked on the pitch. It has been rolled for almost 25 hours and cut back to a fine 4mm.
The outfield is a trim 12mm, less than half that of an AFL fixture at the venue.
“For footy, we’re around 26-28mm. The challenging part of all this is not just the cricket, we’ve got to pull this out pretty quickly for the soccer on Saturday,” Winter said.
“So we’ve got cranes and trucks booked in for Thursday morning and turf ready to harvest, and we’ll be pulling this out again. They (soccer players) prefer it in the mid-20mm, so it’s going to be short, but it will be fine.”