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Take good care of those pitches
An article written in this newspaper in last Sunday's issue by S.R. Pathiravithana on the curator at the "Gabba" ground in Brisbane revived thoughts on fast, bouncy, pitches. It is a topic that is much discussed when the National Team tour Australia or South Africa and the batsmen have trouble coping with the extra pace and bounce. Or else when outstanding opposition pacemen hound the Sri Lankan batsmen on the slowed down local pitches.

Then there are an umpteen number of proposition and theories that are bandied around but within a short period of time it is swept under the carpet. Cricket of two-day duration and more must be played on surfaces that assist the quicker bowlers, spinner and batsmen, at some time during the course of the game.

It is easy to say, but to do it requires knowledge on the subject of pitch preparation. In Australia even those who curate on the most insignificant of turf pitch grounds have learnt the subject. Many have done an apprenticeship and qualified in "Turf Management" in addition to hands on experience. Others learn the trade working with those who are qualified on the job. It is not a case of trial and error learning as it is with most who prepare and are in charge of turf pitches in this country.

Club cricket for the season has been cancelled for the 2004-05 season by "Sri Lanka Cricket" because of the recent disaster. It is an ideal time for the governing body to look at the pitches used for the major domestic club and other high ranking tournaments. The next six months could be spent on assessing their condition and bringing them to a condition where good cricket pitches could be prepared for the 2005-06 season.

It will cost some money, but it will be money well spent. An attempt must be made to raise the standard of all these pitches. When compared to England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India, the number of turf pitches in Sri Lanka are very few. Ramiz Raja, who was the Chief Executive for Pakistan Cricket for a while was responsible for constructing one hundred centre turf pitches around the country and their maintenance. Certainly a step in the right direction.

School cricket is in progress at the moment. The number of schools who have turfs on their grounds have increased in the past twenty years. That is a good thing. However, most of them have four or five strips on the square.

During the school season of six months a whole lot of games are played. The first eleven and second eleven fixtures take up most of the playing days. A number of schools have 'old boys' teams playing division three club cricket and some even hire the grounds out to get some revenue. This means the traffic is far too much on the pitches. It eventually leads to poor quality pitches. The on-going maintenance does not take place. Maintenance at the conclusion of the season is also minimal on most venues. Most often it is a question of inadequate finance. To support and assist these institutions should be step number two in developing the infrastructure required to produce quality cricketers.

In his interview Kevin Mitchell had mentioned in concluding that Ajith Jayasekera when touring Australia as manager of the Sri Lankan team, had invited him to come to the island to educate curators in this country. His reply being that it would be better for curators in Sri Lanka to come over to Brisbane and study the procedure there. A sound suggestion if implemented with a purpose.

It must be remembered that it is good pitches that breed good players to serve every category in the game.

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