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Journalism of Courage
THE 22-yard PROBLEM area in kiwiland
Hilbert Smit, not a name which runs as smoothly off the untrained tongue as say Srinivas Venkataraghavan, was in his day a better than average fast-medium swing bowler just below first-class level. These days, as senior pitch consultant at SuperSport Park in Centurion, he knows a thing or two about South Africa8217;s pitches.
Christchurch and Eden Park are the venues, both designed to make it easier to play alternative winter sports. Okay, so the two Tests were played at traditional grounds: the Basin Reserve in Wellington and Hamilton.
The Basin Reserve has a long history as a Test ground, first used in 1929/30 when New Zealand played England. It has also been a ground which, though used for soccer and international hockey, has been primarily a venue for flannelled fools. Smit8217;s view, however, is that tests done by his company on the drop-in pitch system show that bounce should be even and that generally the surface is no different to the current pitches. He sees it as the long-term future and a way to cut the ever-rising maintenance costs; the current problem could be due to the way the tubs are dropped in.
Yet the query is whether the drop-in pitches produced in New Zealand and Australia could mitigate against their use when they stage the next World Cup down under. A lot of work, it appears, still has to be done.
