Magazine - SACA to Ease Fears in Pitch Battle

By Editor in Cricket on 22nd Aug 2010 6:00

Cricket has moved to defuse growing unease about drop-in pitches at Adelaide Oval.  It threatens to end Adelaide Oval's $535 million transformation into a 50,000-capacity home of AFL in South Australia.

Responding to protests about its plans to dig up the wickets, the SA Cricket Association has assured its members the substitute pitches will be as good as the world-famous permanent square. "Maintaining the reputation of the pitch at Adelaide Oval is not negotiable," the SA Cricket Association wrote in a letter to members yesterday.

Rather than rolling over on the issue to placate the AFL, the SACA argues switching to drop-ins will ensure its pitches are not damaged by football in the off-season. "If the proposed joint venture between SACA and the SANFL at Adelaide Oval goes ahead, drop-in pitches will be necessary to ensure cricket is provided with the best possible playing surfaces for the entire summer," the letter said.

Disgruntled SACA members could vote down the entire proposal, given a three-quarters majority is needed to approve a change as momentous as transforming the oval into the home ground for the state's two AFL teams.

The AFL wants the pitches to be removed in the cricket season to create a homogenous playing surface for football.

Adelaide lawyer Greg Howe met SACA officials this week to discuss his concerns about the move to drop-in wickets.

"I am implacably opposed to the proposal the centre square be removed and be replaced with a 'drop-in' wicket," Howe wrote in a letter to 150 fellow SACA members. "If that is an essential pre-condition of the proposed redevelopment, then I am opposed to the proposed redevelopment. "At the moment, we have a world-renowned wicket square."

Australia captain Ricky Ponting is among those who have in the past expressed reservations about the one-size-fits-all nature of drop-in pitches at Test venues.

Source & More: www.theaustralian.com.au

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