Published: Feb 11, 2014, 04:52 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 11, 2014, 04:53 PM (IST)
Sydney: Feb 11, 2014
The curator at Centurion Park, the venue of the first Test between South Africa and Australia, has asked the visitors not to worry about the pitch.
Some members of the Australian camp were in disbelief when they trained at the venue last week and could not find anything closely resembling a cricket pitch in the middle.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, however, curator Hilbert Smit said that while heavy rain threw his schedule out a little bit, the green pitch will be cut back and ready on Wednesday for a five-day contest, adding that the pitch has been pre-prepared and the grass has come back and grown nicely.
The report mentioned that Centurion is South Africa’s fortress and in 18 Tests they have lost just once – a highly controversial defeat to England in 2000 in which both sides forfeited an innings at the suggestion of late skipper Hansie Cronje.
Smit also said that although the rain slows up the process of preparing the pitch, but they have been preparing the pitch for more than a month.
South African coach Russell Domingo has publicly asked for pace-friendly pitches throughout the three-Test series, which will feature two of the world’s finest pace attacks.
