Graeme Smith raises concerns over newly laid Kotla pitch - ICC World Cup 2011
The South Africa captain, Graeme Smith has shown concerns over the nature of the fresh Kotla pitch and the dew factor during the match ahead of his side’s World Cup opener against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 at the Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi on Thursday,
24 February.
"We are all aware of what happened in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 and this one looks like a fresh pitch," Smith said while talking to the media reporters on the eve of tournament starter against Caribbean side. "It is an unknown factor to both the teams,” he
added.
The concerns of Proteas skipper are understandable as the clash would be the first international game played at the venue since December 2009 when a match between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 was called off as the ball was getting abnormal height
after pitching. And the venue was later banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for international games rating the pitch conditions ‘unfit’ to host a match.
Smith, however, kept his fingers crossed for tomorrows match.
“From what I have seen in the last few days, a lot of work has gone into the pitch and the outfield. I think we have to commend the authorities for that and hope it plays well tomorrow."
The 30-year-old opening batsman of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 reckoned dew will play key role in the day-night game.
The Caribbean skipper, Darren Sami, however, is not wary of the pitch condition as well as the dew factor as his South African counterpart was as he said his focus would be on utilizing the experience of the players who have already played
at the venue in the Champions league.
"We have quite a few guys who have played here before and their inputs will be valuable" said Sami. "We have an idea how the pitch will behave, but we need to wait and see when the first ball is bowled," he added.
The chief pitch curator of ICC, Mr. Andy Atkinson has already played down worries about the newly laid Kotla track saying it is "ready to play".
The curators have assured the pitch has something for both the batsmen and bowlers and were hopeful the teams as well as the fans would enjoy a well contested game tomorrow.
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