England Cricket Diary (18 June 1999)
The pitches in the World Cup have been excellent, bearing in mind the cold, wet start to the tournament in May, and the groundsmen generally have not been given enough praise for their professionalism in what is not an exact science
18-Jun-1999
18 June 1999
England Cricket Diary
Charles Randall
Hampshire are in a hole over pitch
The pitches in the World Cup have been excellent, bearing in mind the
cold, wet start to the tournament in May, and the groundsmen
generally have not been given enough praise for their professionalism
in what is not an exact science.
Hampshire realise they have problems with the United Services ground
at Portsmouth, where gangs of workers on their hands and knees have
been attempting to fill aeration holes by hand, pressing in the soil
with pencils and nail heads.
Hampshire will switch their championship matches against Lancashire
and Sussex to Southampton if Portsmouth is damned by a report from
Harry Brind, an England and Wales Cricket Board pitches consultant.
A contracted company have attempted to change the pitch's character
since Doug Welch's retirement last summer as groundsman after 50
years at Burnaby Roard, but aeration was left too late and the holes
have not closed.
The awards dinner at the Savoy Hotel for the Federation of
International Cricketers' Association (president: Barry Richards)
went well under the sponsorship of the accountancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Only two players could accept their awards in person - Brian Lara as
international player of the year and Anil Kumble for his feat of
taking all 10 wickets.
Incredibly, Sky Television ended their live broadcast before Kumble
reached the stage. They must have forgotten the object of the
exercise.
New Zealand could start their tour with an interesting comparison if
they play Brooke Walker, their exciting new leg-spinner, for the
opening three-day game at Oxford, starting on Monday. British
Universities have selected Greg Loveridge, Walker's main rival, now
studying at Cambridge. Loveridge was selected for a Test as first
choice leg-spinner four years ago, but injury prevented him bowling
an over.
British Universities (v NZ, at Oxford, June 21-23): *Q Hughes,
Imraan Mohammed (Cambridge), T Roberts, E Wilson, B Hutton, R Driver
(Durham), G Loveridge (Cambridge), -C Hellings (Loughborough), J
Lawrence, S Francis (Durham), D Mather, T Hicks (Oxford).
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)