Tony Hemming, Head Curator of the International Cricket Council Global Cricket Academy, has been working hard through the summer to ensure a sporting wicket for the second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Hemming spoke to Gulf News on the various intricacies of the wicket and how he went about transforming the wickets for five-day Test cricket.
Gulf News: What kind of a wicket could it be? Will it be a wicket helpful for bowlers to take 20 wickets?
Tony Hemming: What we are looking for is an even contest between bat and ball. The ideal is that for the first session or so the pitch will generally have a small amount of assistance for the bowlers before it eases out and on days two and three when it should be at its best for batting. Then, as the match wears on, there should be a degree of variable bounce and the pitch should take spin — all as per ICC guidelines.
How did the watering go despite the intense heat? How much of watering spread over how many days was done?
We applied 30mm of water to the pitch 10 days out from the start of the match and prepared the surface on that basis. We checked the moisture content on the eve of the match and we're content with it.
How will the outfield be and is there enough grass to make it comfortable for fielding which was a drawback of Pakistan?
The outfield has been cut to give value for shots. There is always a balance to strike between, on the one hand, every shot that beats the field going for four and on the other an outfield that doesn't yield many boundaries.
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