“Centurion Pitch to have some bounce” reveals the curator
The pitch at Centurion for the first Test match between South Africa and India will have extra bounce and pace, revealed the grounds-man, Hilbert Smith. The first Test between the number one ranked side and the second best Test team in the world will take
place on the 16th of December.
The surface at Super Sports Park will not be a docile track as it will offer a significant amount of pace and bounce to the quick bowlers. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 will be touring the Afrikaans land in order to play the three-match Test series.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-Morkel-c77722. Currently, the pair
is said to be the best new-ball pair in the world. They possess great skills and ability to rattle the opposition, especially in their own conditions.
In addition, South Africa has housed a decent left-arm spin bowler in their ranks in the shape of Paul Harris to back their quick bowlers. Harris is tall and has a high-arm action, so the Centurion wicket can play to the advantage of Harris as he can trouble
the Indian batsmen with his extra bounce.
Smith said. "It will have just a bit of bounce. But everything depends on the weather. If it stays hot, somewhere in the region of 34 degrees Celsius and the pitch dries out, then it will flatten out totally and then we will have a problem
because we need some moisture to get bounce.”
Cricket South Africa has assigned Smith to prepare a seaming track that will suit their formidable pace-attack. Indian players do have a weakness on lively pitches as they tend to falter in technique. Adding to this, Smith said, "I've been
told to leave some grass on it, so there will be bounce. I've rolled some grass into the base for that.”
The grounds-man has also been told to negate the amount of turn for the spinners. The bounce in the pitch will suit Paul Harris, rather than India’s premier spin bowler, Harbhajan Singh. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Adams-c80978, the former Proteas spinner added, “Spinners
just need the bounce to be able to deceive the batsmen.”
Smith is already done with his work. In doing so, he has left a fair amount of grass on the wicket and now it is just a matter of refining his work ahead of the first encounter between South Africa and India at Super Sports Park.
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