Australia to train on spinning pitch

Cricket Australia's plans to import Indian soil to create subcontinent-style practice pitches might not yet have eventuated, but they hope an artificial surface in Brisbane might do the job for now. Australia's players will soon be able to train on a pitch with a concrete base with artificial grass, clay and turf rolled in to increase the spin in an attempt to partially replicate Asian pitches.

Australia's next Test engagement is in October against Pakistan in the UAE, where there is expected to be some turn, although the Dubai surface might offer more for the fast bowlers. But the training pitch on an oval near the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane will provide some spin-friendly conditions for the players, who are likely to begin practicing on it from Tuesday.

"The artificial base and the bounce is a lot different to what we get in Australia," Pat Howard, Cricket Australia's general manager of high performance, told the Courier-Mail. "I think it's a step in the right direction.

"Batsmen can practise on a pitch that will play very differently to what we can expect in Australia. It's a start. At no stage am I going to suggest it's the finished article but I think it will provide a good, solid base to try something different."

Australia's batsmen struggled significantly on last year's Test tour of India, where they lost 4-0 and Michael Clarke was their only player to score a century. In June, Howard spoke of the hope to import soil from India to create spinning pitches on which to train, but similar soil from northern Australia might be found to offer the same kind of conditions.

"In a further process we have been talking to quarries and doing further testing," Howard said. "We even found out that in Mumbai they have a mixture of clays. It's very different, as you could imagine, if you go from the bottom of Sri Lanka in Galle all the way up to Mohali.

"It's a fascinating process and we're not going to have a magic bullet here. I'm happy to keep trying and innovating. I'm sure some things won't go well, but I'm sure over a period of time we can create something that adds to the growth of players against spin."