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HomeSPORTSWTC Final: Southampton pitch curator aims for 'pace, bounce and carry'

WTC Final: Southampton pitch curator aims for ‘pace, bounce and carry’

The final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) is set to be played between India and New Zealand in Southampton, England from June 18. Simon Lee, the head groundsman of the Southampton ground, has indicated that the pitch may be favorable for the fast bowlers during this match. Simon has said that, along with bounce on this pitch, the ball will also come at high speed. Due to which the fast bowlers can get a lot of help.

Simon has also admitted that it is not easy to prepare such wickets in England, but by using at least roller on the pitch, he will try his best to prepare fast wickets for this match. At the same time, he has also said that, he will try his best to ensure that the WTC final is not one-sided and along with excellent batting, there is a great spell from the bowlers as well.

“Me and Winston normally do a lap of the main ground before work, so I can check on everything before we start the day, and the India team saw him from their hotel room balconies while they were in quarantine on arrival to the UK,” Lee tells ESPNcricinfo. “He was getting whistles from some of them and Ravi Shastri called down and asked what his name was. Over the next couple of mornings you could hear ‘Winston’ being called out, which was pretty cool.”

“Having the WTC final here at the Ageas Bowl is pretty massive, obviously without the current world situation with the pandemic, it wouldn’t have been here, so I feel lucky to have the chance to produce a pitch for potentially the biggest game of Test cricket ever staged. It’s a huge opportunity.”

That first Test pitch for England vs West Indies last July was my first real pitch I prepared on the square here, it was a complete leap into the unknown, as I simply didn’t know how the square would react to my preparation methods,” Lee says. While Taunton was like, in his own words, the “back of my hand”, Lee was working out the little quirks at the Ageas Bowl during the winter before he and his deputy Tom Cowley started talking about making pitches for the 2020 season.

“Throughout last summer I was learning so much in a really intense period, all in the public eye on TV with all the pressures that can bring, and no room for errors. That first Test was a little nervous in the build-up, but once it started, I loved it, and it quickly becomes a very normal thing to do.”

“You can’t rush anything when it comes to the work of pitch preparation – that didn’t start until the end of May, after some very wet weather moved away from the UK, when we started getting the practice pitches rolled out on the nursery ground for India. And the Test pitch has been started a little time after that as you like to not over-prepare it, getting it ready just in time would be ideal.”

While India has lost both the Tests they have played at the venue (2014 and 2018), New Zealand will be playing their maiden Test at the Ageas Bowl. Cheteshwar Pujara is the only player in both line-ups to score a century at the venue in Test cricket.

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