Drop-In Pitches From Australia To Be Used In New York, Florida, Texas For T20 World Cup 2024

.New Delhi: The stadiums in the United States, hosting the T20 World Cup matches in June will have drop-in pitches transported all the way from Australia. The T20 World Cup is happening for the first time in the USA with West Indies being the co-hosts. The matches will be played at bespoke venues in New York, Texas and Florida.

While 16 matches will be hosted in the USA, the rest of 39 games will be played in the West Indies. The opening encounter between USA and Canada and the high-octane India vs Pakistan matches will all be held in the United States. As far as the pitches are concerned, they were made in Adelaide and travelled by ship to American via Florida. Damian Hough, who is a pitch curator at Adelaide Oval, has been given the task to make the wickets.

“Our aim is to produce pitches that have pace and consistent bounce, on which the players can play their shots,” said Hough. “We want entertaining cricket, but there are challenges.” Work on the drop-in pitches began back in October last year as they were initially planted in trays with each pitch split into two trays. Hough was given a task of making four match-ready pitches and six practice strips.

Diving deep into making of the pitches, a clay-like soil, used at baseball venues in the US, has been used I making the pitches. A particular type of grass is used, suited to warmer climates and resistant heavy rolling has also been used.

The trays were loaded in a shipping container on a boat in January from Adelaide with Florida being the ultimate destination. On its way to Florida, the grasses have since grown before being taken by road to its final destination. For laying the pitches, it will take Hough and his team atleast 12 hours to bed the pitch in at the venues.

“I have mixed feelings,” said Hough, who is a guest on this week’s Stumped podcast. “I’m really excited, but I’m a bit anxious at the same time – there are still unknowns. This is a long process. What we do know is we’ve given it our best shot. We’ve thoroughly thought through every possible outcome and issue along the way and we’re hoping that they’re going to be some good cricket pitches.”