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Two experts of the New Zealand Turf Institute have reached Pakistan on the invitation of the home cricket board to carry out soil tests and prepare a comprehensive report on how to improve the quality of pitches in the country.

Keith Mcollite and Blair Christianson have already visited Faisalabad and inspected the pitches and outfield at the Iqbal Stadium, which has become famous for producing no results in Tests and first-class games. “They’ll also visit Multan, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and finally Lahore to inspect the outfield and pitches of these Test venues,” Director Cricket Operations PCB Saleem Altaf said on Tuesday.

He said the main purpose of inviting the two experts to Pakistan was to get their opinion on how the pitches could be made more sporting for particularly Test matches during the winter season.

“They’ve already identified two problems; one is that our curators are using mud and clay only from two places in Pakistan and secondly they feel too many matches are held on the centre squares of the Test venues, thus depriving the pitches of life and juice in a season,” he said.

Altaf said the two experts were still conducting their tests but they already felt that there was a need to try out more sources of mud and clay that could be used in preparation of Test and first-class pitches.

The PCB and the team management came under fire in the last international home season when the first two Tests against India — in Lahore and Faisalabad — produced high-scoring draws with many batting records broken in these games.

After a blame game the Board decided to act by approaching the New Zealand Turf Institute asking them to help out with their expertise.

Altaf said Keith and Blair were collecting soil samples and would test them out before submitting a detailed report on which action would be taken. “The eventual idea is to produce pitches that encourage batsmen as well as bowlers and ensure that when runs are scored and wickets taken they are of some quality and can be used to judge the worth of a player (s),” he stated.

Source: The News

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