India's first imported pitches at the Brabourne Stadium

The Cricket Club of India has scored another first. The hallowed institution has purchased two imported pitches for its Brabourne Stadium, and the entire work was completed within just two days from May 24 to 26. The tracks with artificial grass, prepared by ClubTurf, a company directed by former England Test spinner Derek Underwood, were imported this week and the work was done in a professional manner. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs eight lakh.

The two pitches, a novelty in India which even the richest cricket body in the world, the BCCI would envy, is the brainchild of CCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur. It was Dungarpur's oftrepeated observation that improvement in the standard of Indian cricket should begin with developments in Mumbai. "If Mumbai cricket is strong, then Indian cricket is strong," he is quoted as having said. The pitches have been prepared anew by one of the representatives of ClubTurf, John Tatters.

According to ClubTurf, up to now about 5,000 such surfaces have been laid all over the world since 1976. These pitches are more spike resistant than any artificial grass, but they are not spike proof. It is not necessary for a bowler to wear spikes as the surface offers better grip than natural grass. The CCI pitches are insured with Cornhill Insurance against vandalism and theft for a year.

The pitch can give the desired pace and bounce if it is rolled with a light roller as and when necessary. One of the instructions on maintenance is to roll after use if the pitch is soft through rain. This will iron out any indentations caused by the ball consistently landing around the same area and thereby prevent irregularities as the pitch dries and firms up. The pitch consists of three layers -- the granite (khadi) at the bottom, hard-porous earth (sand without clay) and then the artificial grass at the top.

The youngsters at the CCI Centre of Excellence have started making use of the pitches, which will benefit them a lot. The centre is handled by renowned coach Vasu Paranjape and others, including former Test player Hanumant Singh.

Underwood guarantees that the pitch will offer all the facilities of natural turf but without the unpredictable behaviour of poorly maintained pitches. The pitches can certainly provide pace and bounce as well as turn. There may not be many complaints about the artificial nature of the pitch as excessive use of synthetic layers such as thick under pads negating any natural response are omitted.

The pitches come in two sizes i.e. 30.0m x 2.75m and 27.0m x 2.75m The price excludes other expenses such as air fares, local labour, clearance, taxes, sub base materials etc. The pitches offer durability, tuft anchorage, porosity and natural characteristics. The pitches can be transferred by lorry, ferry or by air.

Findings have revealed that the manufacturers have taken care to use an exclusive highly u/v stabilized ICI polypropylene, and construction was done by a unique double woven process built on special built looms.

The creases marking and remarking is done by acrylic paint which give better results. The stumps hole is filled with damp moistened soil. The grass clippings are brushed off before they become embedded. It's very important to roll with the pitch in its position.

The pitch should be removed to re-true the hard porous surface caused by the bowler's delivery stride or block holes or stump holes. According to the weather conditions, the pitch can be made slack or tight for which the nails are to be fitted again.

For the installation process, the grass in the area that is to be covered with the turf pitches is to be scalped and the ground should be made absolutely flat with binding sand. For a variable bounce, it must be allowed to bridge any hollows. The sub bases should not be flat but parallel and evenly consolidated, since a slight hump or hollow will also give an uneven bounce. A vibrator roller to dust hardstone like granite or hard limestone should be used

The staff is specially trained and they do the installation. The fixing of the pitch to the ground is done by nailing four inches of galvanized nails at three inch centres. The nails are made as taut as possible at all the ends. A small winch will help along with two wooden battens and five G-Clamps. The nails being canted inwards are hammed home pointing outwards so that the pitch does not slacken. Nails should be put all the way on both the sides at six inch centres. The pad should be fixed followed by the turf at 2.5 and 2.75m respectively. Both should be nicely overlapped.

Given this facility, perhaps the day is not far off when we can play the game in the monsoons or even on village fields.