The Cricket Club of India has scored another first
Marcus Couto30-May-2001The Cricket Club of India has scored another first. The hallowedinstitution has purchased two imported pitches for its BrabourneStadium, and the entire work was completed within just two daysfrom May 24 to 26. The tracks with artificial grass, prepared byClubTurf, a company directed by former England Test spinner DerekUnderwood, were imported this week and the work was done in aprofessional manner. The total cost of the project is estimatedat Rs eight lakh.The two pitches, a novelty in India which even the richestcricket body in the world, the BCCI would envy, is the brainchildof CCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur. It was Dungarpur’s oftrepeated observation that improvement in the standard of Indiancricket should begin with developments in Mumbai. “If Mumbaicricket is strong, then Indian cricket is strong,” he is quotedas having said. The pitches have been prepared anew by one of therepresentatives of ClubTurf, John Tatters.According to ClubTurf, up to now about 5,000 such surfaces havebeen laid all over the world since 1976. These pitches are morespike resistant than any artificial grass, but they are not spikeproof. It is not necessary for a bowler to wear spikes as thesurface offers better grip than natural grass. The CCI pitchesare insured with Cornhill Insurance against vandalism and theftfor a year.The pitch can give the desired pace and bounce if it is rolledwith a light roller as and when necessary. One of theinstructions on maintenance is to roll after use if the pitch issoft through rain. This will iron out any indentations caused bythe ball consistently landing around the same area and therebyprevent irregularities as the pitch dries and firms up. The pitchconsists of three layers — the granite (khadi) at the bottom,hard-porous earth (sand without clay) and then the artificialgrass at the top.The youngsters at the CCI Centre of Excellence have startedmaking use of the pitches, which will benefit them a lot. Thecentre is handled by renowned coach Vasu Paranjape and others,including former Test player Hanumant Singh.Underwood guarantees that the pitch will offer all the facilitiesof natural turf but without the unpredictable behaviour of poorlymaintained pitches. The pitches can certainly provide pace andbounce as well as turn. There may not be many complaints aboutthe artificial nature of the pitch as excessive use of syntheticlayers such as thick under pads negating any natural response areomitted.The pitches come in two sizes i.e. 30.0m x 2.75m and 27.0m x2.75m The price excludes other expenses such as air fares, locallabour, clearance, taxes, sub base materials etc. The pitchesoffer durability, tuft anchorage, porosity and naturalcharacteristics. The pitches can be transferred by lorry, ferryor by air.Findings have revealed that the manufacturers have taken care touse an exclusive highly u/v stabilized ICI polypropylene, andconstruction was done by a unique double woven process built onspecial built looms.The creases marking and remarking is done by acrylic paint whichgive better results. The stumps hole is filled with dampmoistened soil. The grass clippings are brushed off before theybecome embedded. It’s very important to roll with the pitch inits position.The pitch should be removed to re-true the hard porous surfacecaused by the bowler’s delivery stride or block holes or stumpholes. According to the weather conditions, the pitch can be madeslack or tight for which the nails are to be fitted again.For the installation process, the grass in the area that is to becovered with the turf pitches is to be scalped and the groundshould be made absolutely flat with binding sand. For a variablebounce, it must be allowed to bridge any hollows. The sub basesshould not be flat but parallel and evenly consolidated, since aslight hump or hollow will also give an uneven bounce. A vibratorroller to dust hardstone like granite or hard limestone should beusedThe staff is specially trained and they do the installation. Thefixing of the pitch to the ground is done by nailing four inchesof galvanized nails at three inch centres. The nails are made astaut as possible at all the ends. A small winch will help alongwith two wooden battens and five G-Clamps. The nails being cantedinwards are hammed home pointing outwards so that the pitch doesnot slacken. Nails should be put all the way on both the sides atsix inch centres. The pad should be fixed followed by the turf at2.5 and 2.75m respectively. Both should be nicely overlapped.Given this facility, perhaps the day is not far off when we canplay the game in the monsoons or even on village fields.