International Cricket Board comes clean on drop in pitches

The pitches in New York for the upcoming T20 World Cup are a shot in the dark, but the International Board on Wednesday (May 1) aims to get rid of apprehensions over the Nassau County International in New York pitches. “They will be typical T20 pitches, where there's good bounce, good pace and value for shots," the International Cricket Board said.

India are slated to play three league fixtures at this venue, including the highly anticipated one against arch rivals Pakistan. The anxiety and panic stricken situation has arisen because the International Cricket Board will be using drop in pitches. "Obviously, you want the players to be able to play shots all around the ground. So that's what we designed," Damian Hough, who has prepared the pitches, stated. Hough is the head curator at the Adelaide Oval. 

There is a general perception in India that the pitches for the World Cup will be slow and conducive for spin bowlers and that is why they went with four specialist spinners- Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in their squad. 

We have seen massive totals getting posted day and day out in the Indian T20 League and most of them are chased without much discomfort. When Hough was asked about what type of totals can we expect from the surface, he said, "I can't predict the scores. That's up to the batters to play that, but we can't be happier where they're at right now. Our ambition is to produce pitches along those lines where they're good quality pitches, minimal spin, minimal seam and ball coming onto the bat and let the players play the shot."

The International Cricket Board prepared 10 pitches at a turf farm in Florida which has been shipped through the east coast to New York and they are being currently installed. Out of those ten four will be used for matches and the rest at the training facility just down the road from the Nassau County Stadium for practice. 

“Obviously, we've had to use drop in pitches because the climate in New York isn't conducive to growing pitches within the timeframe we needed. You know, the harsh winter there wouldn't have enabled pitches to be prepared. But in Florida, as we've seen, the conditions have been outstanding and perfect for the project that we've undertaken," Chris Tetley, the International Cricket Board head of events, said.

"We're now focused on bedding in the pitches here in New York to ensure we're delivering an end product of the highest quality. The games in New York are a great platform for us to showcase our abilities to a global audience. It's certainly a massive thrill for everyone at Adelaide Oval to be involved in such a huge event," Hough added.

The games in New York will be played at the temporary modular stadium located at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, east of Manhattan. Eight matches comprising nine teams will feature in New York, incorporating Sri Lanka, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh and the USA apart from India, Pakistan, with the opening match scheduled for June 3, between Sri Lanka and South Africa.