IPL turns to Oz curator for sporting pitches

The Indian Premier League has roped in veteran Australian curator Les Burdett for educating curators and groundsmen to prepare sporting pitches at various IPL venues.

Burdett, who has been associated with the Adelaide Oval for 35 years, would conduct a two-day seminar in Mohali on March 11 and 12 regarding wicket preparation for the multi-million dollar league that starts from April 18.

The 56-year-old Burdett has helped various cricketing countries in the art of ground and wicket-making and is a familiar face in symposia and seminars on the subject.

“Those in charge of all the staging centres of IPL have been asked to attend the seminar,” said BCCI’s ground and pitches committee chairman Daljit Singh. Daljit, who is the overall in-charge of wicket-preparation for the IPL, said the staging associations have been asked to ensure that pitches had ‘good carry and pace’.

“The pitches will have good carry and pace, so that there is a good first innings score and the team batting second has a good total to chase,” Daljit said.

“We want wickets conducive to the Twenty20 format. The centres have been asked to prepare hard wickets with good bounce,” Daljit added.

Daljit said the pitches should neither have lateral movement nor be spinner-friendly as such wickets were not good for the slam-bang variety of cricket. He said he and other members of the ground and pitches committee would tour all the IPL venues “and see the preparation for ourselves”.