Ashes 2017/18: Adelaide Pitch Curator Promises a Quality and Spin Friendly Track for the Historic D/N Test
Nov 30, 2017 at 6:06 PM
After a comprehensive victory for the Australians at The Gabba, Brisbane, Steven Smith and Joe Root will lock horns again for the 2nd chapter of the Ashes at the Adelaide Oval.
The pitch at Gabba was marked by a slow nature and was a pitch which had a soft spot for the spinners. However, as we inch closer to the historic day and night Test at the Adelaide Oval, the nature of the track the cricketers will have to deal with on December 2 is still a mystery.
The weather at the South Australian capital, Adelaide, is unpredictable at the moment which has created a cloud of doubt over the pitch conditions the ground will offer when the 2nd Test kicks off on Saturday. Though Adelaide has seen extreme hot conditions recently with the temperature hitting the 40-degree mark, predictions have pointed out thunderstorms on Thursday night.
The first day of the Test match is expected to be a cold and wet making it a harsh condition for the cricketers. However, Damian Hough, the Adelaide Oval head curator, believes the ground will provide a Test wicket of the highest quality overcoming all the hurdles.
“If we get a few hours of covers off tomorrow, we will be fine,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It can be tricky, but we had a (Sheffield) Shield game finish on Sunday and knew the weather was potentially turning on us. So we started preparation (on the Test pitch) on the day before the Shield game just to get some good compaction into it when the pitch was really wet.
“The cards we have been dealt with, we manage it as best we can, but we’re pretty comfortable where it’s at currently,” he added. “We might get a few showers at the start of the game but the majority of it, the extreme weather, will be over in the next 24 hours.”
“Feedback was pretty good for that one (last year’s day-night Test), so it’s the same sort of technique, same cutting heights and everything else,” Hough said. “We just want a good even contest, some pace and bounce, as much as Adelaide can offer – we can’t give as much as other states have got. “But for us, we still want spin to play a part … (and) once the batters are in, hopefully, they can still cash in,” he concluded.