Wednesday, 6 December 2006

Match conditions

The forecast for Jade Stadium over the next few days is for cold and cloudy weather. The pitch to be used is the same portable pitch that has been in use for the past few seasons. Two test matches have been played on this wicket with the following results:

2001/2 - England 228 and 468/8d beat New Zealand 147 and 451
2004/5 - New Zealand 433 and 131 lost to Australia 432 and 135/1

So not good pedigree for New Zealand, but at least we have that 222 by Nathan Astle to consol us. I heard the curator predicting a pitch which is more like the 2001/2 wicket than the one used a couple of seasons ago. That and the weather conditions would indicate that seam is likely to dominate for at least the first few days. If the sun gets a chance to come out it could settle into a hard, bouncy wicket which is good for batting, but don't bet on that happening.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike
Upon his recall to the side, I've profiled Mathew Sinclair's career on my blog. You might want to put it up if you think it's good enough.