Tag: Pitch curator

KARACHI: Tony Hemming, the chief curator of Pakistan, visited the National Bank Stadium here on Wednesday.

Hemming met the ground staff at National Bank Stadium and carried out a detailed discussion with the ground staff regarding the pitches and outfield.

For the unversed, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), last week, appointed Australia’s Tony Hemming as the new head curator on a two-year contract.

Hemming’s immediate tasks will be to prepare pitches for Pakistan’s upcoming five home Test matches, which are part of the ICC World Test Championship.

Pakistan will play two matches against Bangladesh in August/September, followed by a three-Test series against England, scheduled to be played in October.

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Hemming will also oversee pitch preparations for the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan will host from 19 February to 9 March.

Hemming is a highly respected curator with nearly four decades of experience. He has worked at various iconic cricket grounds in Australia, including Melbourne, Perth and Tasmania, as well as in countries such as Bangladesh, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where he was the ICC’s Head Curator from 2007 to 2017 in Dubai.

During his time with the ICC, Hemming also oversaw pitch preparation at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, which was one of Pakistan’s home venues between 2009 and 2019.

Prior to joining PCB, Tony Hemming was involved with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), where we worked from July 2023.

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LUCKNOW: The chief groundsman of the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow has been removed from his job after players and pundits complained of a shockingly slow and turning pitch for the second T20I between India and New Zealand.

The low-scoring match witnessed no sixes and remained equally hostile for batters on both sides while India chased the modest target of 100 with only one ball to spare. The wicket invited harsh criticism from all quarters with India captain Hardik Pandya calling it a “shocker of a pitch”.

The Indian media on Tuesday reported that the pitch curator, named Surinder was removed the next day of the match.

“The curator has been removed and replaced by Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal who is a very experienced curator,” reported an Indian news agency quoting a source in Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA).

“A lot of domestic cricket was already played on all the centre wickets ahead of the T20I and the curator should have left one or two strips for an international game. The surface was overused and due to the bad weather, there was not enough (time) to prepare a fresh wicket,” it added.

The pitches used in the T20I series so far left Indian skipper Pandy unhappy about their below-par quality.

“To be honest, it was a shocker of a wicket,” he said after the second T20I.

“Both the games we have played on so far. I don’t mind difficult wickets. I am all up for that, but these two wickets are not made for T20. Somewhere down the line, the curators or the grounds that we are going to play in should make sure they prepare the pitches earlier.”

Currently, the series is level at 1-1 with the decider to be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

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LAHORE: Australian pitches expert with 26-year experience will arrive in Pakistan on July 15 for inspection of local pitches and outfields besides giving consultancy to local curators on pitch-making techniques.

According to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Damien Hough, head curator of Adelaide Oval, will arrive in Lahore tomorrow on a two-week tour of the country during which he will also visit Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan.

Australian expert will carry out inspection of outfields and pitches squares as well during his visit to local stadiums.

Hough will deliver lectures on pitch preparations and the basic methodology of pitch making for all three formats of the game to local curators, coaches, and city cricket associations, before his departure on July 28.

Furthermore, the Australian expert will also share his knowledge with local pitch curators regarding the introduction of day/night pitches for Test cricket.

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