Magazine - North Dalton Park Pitch to look like SCG

By Editor in Cricket on 17th Dec 2009 12:45

Cricket Illawarra president Gordon Treadwell is confident North Dalton Park's playing surface will look like the SCG for the showpiece Ford Ranger Cup clash on Australia Day.

NSW will tackle South Australia in a one-day match after the two previous interstate fixtures slated for the region's feature venue were never played.

A corresponding Blues-Redbacks showdown in December 2007 was abandoned without a ball bowled while last year's NSW-Victoria tussle was rescheduled due to the Bushrangers' Twenty20 Champions League commitments. "We want it looking like the SCG, that's the aim," Treadwell said.

To that end, 200 tonnes of sand-soil mix and 20 tonnes of fertiliser have been dumped on the surface to ensure it is pristine come Illawarra cricket's big day. "It's part of (Wollongong City) council's plan to get it up to speed, it's been submitted to Cricket NSW," Treadwell said. "We're making sure the ground is spot-on. All we need to do is keep watering and mowing and for the sun to keep shining."

Treadwell said a new drainage system would prevent a repeat of the 2007 debacle, when play never started despite the ground being bathed in sunshine following a week of rain. "If we get that kind of downpour this year, the drainage system will take care of it," Treadwell said. "We can't control the weather, but for Cricket NSW to give us this game and Country Cricket NSW to give us the (under 16s) Bradman Cup shows they have the utmost confidence in us."

With Illawarra cricket tragics starved for top-class action, the match scheduled for a public holiday and not to be televised, Cricket Illawarra is planning for a bumper crowd.

"We had just under 2000 for the 2007 match when it looked like being rained off, we're expecting more than 3000 this time," Treadwell said.

Dalton Park will be shut for three weeks leading up to the tussle.

Source & More: www.illawarramercury.com.au

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