South Africa in New Zealand 2012: Curators assure competitive wicket for the third Test – Cricket News Update
Brett Sipthorpe, the chief curator at the Basin Reserve, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and South Africa is hopeful the Basin Reserve wicket will turn out to be an ideal Test match wicket that will provide an even
contest.
Speaking to the media reporters on Wednesday, Sipthorpe said that the wicket he has prepared for the New Zealand-http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, in January last year.
"The pitch is in the same state as it was for the Pakistan Test and it played really well in that match," Sipthorpe told ESPNcricinfo.
The last match played here between the Black Caps and the Green Shirts was a high scoring match which saw a tally of 1251 runs scored in the four innings. The wickets were also evenly distributed between the pacers and spinners.
Basin Reserve has not seen sun since the last weekend and there is also a forecast of showers on Thursday. So the pitch is likely to remain under covers until the start of the Test on Friday morning.
Sipthorpe said that the weather conditions are not new for him and that he was expecting same kind of weather in Wellington in these days of the year, so he had prepared the wicket well in time.
"We had an idea this weather was coming and so we had the pitch pretty well prepared on Sunday. It was hard enough to play on Sunday," said the curator.
South Africa groundsmen use special equipment to dry the pitch besides a Tent erected over the pitch to avoid pouring. But Sipthorpe said that such techniques are not effective in New Zealand where there are winds up to 130 kph.
"Hopefully we'll have some time to knock any colour out of it,” said the Basin Reserve curator. “It's nice and hard and even though it may assist fast bowlers, if we have time to work on it, it should play well," he added further.
New Zealand trail the tourists 0-1 in the three-match series and will be eager to win the third and final Test to avoid a clean sweep at the hands of Proteas, who have already won the one-day and T20 series.
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