As Cyclone Gabrielle swirled around Bay Oval, groundsman Jared Carter couldn’t sleep; getting up every half hour at home, looking at cameras stationed at the ground to make sure it was still intact.
Such has been the nature of the build-up to the first Test against England he concedes it’s definitely been his most challenging assignment and almost doesn’t care how the pitch will play.
“To be honest I’ve got no expectations out of this one, I’m just glad we got it here,” a forthright, frantic Carter said in the middle of a now bone-dry Bay Oval.
The wicket has large amounts of green on its edges but a brown strip down the centre. It largely avoided the 130-140 millimetres of rain Bay Oval copped thanks to some extra attention and care from Carter and his team.
“We got in a lot of extra weights than we normally have, we parked on (the covers) five pieces of machinery. we also had shipping ropes, probably 150mm thick, just to stop the flapping of the covers,” Carter details, with no leaks seeping through.
Despite a bright blue day in Mount Maunganui today with a strong breeze, the lack of sun has been the problem this entire summer, if it can really be called that.
Carter hasn’t been able to gather the data on overall sunlight hours on the ground, but labels it “considerably less” than what they’re used to.
It’s made for more than a metre’s worth of rain more than what they would usually get in the last 12 months.
“It’s been a real challenging summer and, as you touched on the actual sunlight hours.. We’ve had a lot of rain days, a lot of rains days, similar to a lot of grounds in the top of the north here where pretty much every game has been affected by rain at some point but the lack of sunshine has been a biggie."
A green, potentially potent pitch is usually cause for concern for opposing teams, particularly if they face the task of the eyeing the Black Caps’ bowlers on day one. Ben Stokes, though, cut a very relaxed figure when we told him what it looked like.
“Watching Test matches in New Zealand in the past I don’t think you can look too much into the wickets here when they’re green like that. I don’t know how much affect it’s going to have, I just hope I lose the toss,” Stokes joked.
That toss will be at about 1:30pm tomorrow where all eyes will be on the pitch and, somewhere, Jared Carter and the Bay Oval staff will finally be able to put their feet up.
SHARE ME