Efforts on to improve conditions at Green Park
LUCKNOW :In their second match on the home turf in Ranji Trophy season this January, hosts and former champions Uttar Pradesh had to concede first innings lead to Tamil Nadu after the four-day match ended in a tame draw with bad weather wreaking havoc, allowing only two-n-half days of play.
Two major areas in Green Park Stadium had water-logging and the first day of the crucial tie was washed out even though Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) is equipped with the full-ground cover.
Hopefully, this situation won’t arise in future as a team of six led by UPCA chief curator Shiv Kumar has been putting an extraordinary effort to get the ‘affected areas’ of the country’s one of the premier Test centres perfect forever.
The team of grounds men has nowadays been busy in de-weeding of the unusual grass and the levelling of the two major spots.
“There is a slight slope on both the places, including one in front of the players’ pavilion. We have already begun process for the re-shaping of these slops so that from the next season, there would be little chance of game being affected with this,” Shiv Kumar told HT on Sunday.
One of the senior curators on the rolls of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Kumar also said that de-weeding work will take almost a month. “It takes so much time as first the de-weeding of ‘jungli’ grass would be done first and then new grass would be roped in to maintain the greenery of the ground,” he said, adding, “All the grounds men are following the WHO instructions, including social distancing, proper sanitisation and sporting masks too.”
Green Park Stadium, one of the oldest Test centres in the country, had hosted its first match way back in 1952 when Indian played against England in January whereas it hosted the last match— an ODI— in October 2017 when India played against New Zealand.
“Green Park Stadium has been one of the best cricket grounds in India and I believe that more matches should be organised at this venue,” said a veteran of UPCA committee on the condition of anonymity.
“It’s good to have another international venue like Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow where the matches are taking place, but the BCCI as well as the UPCA shouldn’t ignore the rich history of the Green Park Stadium and look for more matches here,” he added.
TWO MAJOR AREAS IN GREEN PARK STADIUM HAD WATER-LOGGING AND THE FIRST DAY OF THE CRUCIAL TIE WAS WASHED OUT EVEN THOUGH UTTAR PRADESH CRICKET ASSOCIATION (UPCA) IS EQUIPPED WITH THE FULL-GROUND COVER