Magazine: NZ Sports Turf Institute - Contributing to World Cricket
By Keith McAuliffe in Cricket on 13th Jun 2008 6:20
This article has been supplied by the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute (NZSTI). NZSTI is New Zealand's leading sports turf consultancy group, recognised by SPARC (Sport and Recreation NZ) as the "standard setting body" for turf maintenance and management. They can advise to all natural and synthetic turf surfaces.
Although the Black Caps are the show piece of New Zealand cricket, our country can also take pride in knowing that the NZ Sports Turf Institute and our cricket curators are globally recognised.
The NZ Sports Turf Institute has had a long-standing involvement in Asia, and recently had its
contract as the Asian Cricket Councils’ grounds development consultant renewed.
The Institute’s dealings with cricket in Asia go back to the mid 1990's, when Chief Executive, Keith McAuliffe, met up with representatives from the Malaysian and Singapore Cricket Associations. Subsequent contracts with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (to evaluate and report on 1st class grounds in India) and the Malaysian Sports Ministry (to build cricket pitches for the 1998 Commonwealth Games) helped establish the Institute’s reputation in the region.
When the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) came to select a body that could help with developing playing surfaces throughout Asia, the Institute was a logical choice. Mr Jagmahan Dalmiya, ACC President at that time (who has recently been re-elected to the position), demonstrated his faith in the Institute by offering a three year contract for developing grounds and providing Curator training courses.
ACC’s core focus with the Development Program is to help foster cricket within the regions of non-test playing countries. The region covers a great diversity of countries from South East Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia etc), through to the Gulf and Middle East (Afghanistan, UAE, Saudi, Brunei, Oman, Qatar etc). It represents arguably the most important region in world cricket, covering the Test playing nations of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The ACC has demonstrated commendable vision by investing in developing and upgrading playing surfaces. There is definitely a need for developing natural grass wickets and better quality grassed outfields in most member countries. This fact was highlighted in a recent cricket administrator’s survey that identified 11 out of 14 participating countries require facilities improvement as a key priority.
As specialist consultant to the ACC the Institute has endeavoured to identify what improvements are required and how ACC could most wisely invest funds in achieving results. The process involved visiting each country to assess facilities. To the average kiwi cricketer it would perhaps come as a shock to learn that much of the cricket in the region is played on bare sand outfields and concrete strips.
From a technical angle the region has posed challenges for Institute staff. In the arid Middle East/Gulf region the main challenge with developing grassed surfaces is water supply (quality and cost). In the South Eastern wet tropics region the main issue is too much water at times. Understanding the diversity of climate, soil, culture and economies has been critical in order for the Institute to offer the best, sustainable advice.
In addition to the visits and consultancy work the Institute has been running a three module training programme for Curators throughout Asia. Several NZ Curators have been called upon to assist Institute staff provide these courses. The intention is to build up a pool of trained local Curators throughout the region, who in turn can help with the development of the next tier of grounds staff. Feedback from these courses has been excellent, while full praise and thanks must be given to those who have contributed.
As the Institute moves into the second phase of its contract with ACC it will continue to be challenged. There is still plenty to do in bringing about improved facilities and skilled curators to manage these facilities. The Institute is certainly honoured to be associated with the ACC Development Programme. There is pride in knowing we are contributing to the expansion of knowledge on turf culture and cricket pitches, as well as helping to put NZ on the map.
Keith McAuliffe
CEO
NZSTI
The NZ Turf Management Journal is printed quarterly (Feb, May, Aug,
Nov) and is specifically tailored to the turf industry with a range of topical, technical and research articles, book reviews and trade information
www.nzsti.org.nz
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contract as the Asian Cricket Councils’ grounds development consultant renewed.
