“Maybe they could just keep rolling that pitch…..”: Sanjay Manjrekar on Nassau County Stadium surface

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 4: Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will have to do some work on the pitch of the newly-constructed Nassau County Stadium in New York, which is hosting ICC T20 World Cup matches.

The stadium is hosting eight games in this tournament, including three of India’s home matches against Ireland (June 5), Pakistan (June 9) and USA (June 12).
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Manjrekar said that the the pitch should be made as “firm” as possible and the outfield is really slow. The former cricketer though, lauded all concerned authorities for making the stadium an “international standard” venue.

The outfield and pitch met with criticism after a low-scoring contest between South Africa and Sri Lanka. The islanders were bundled out for just 77 runs in 19.1 overs. Proteas made the winning target in 16.2 overs and the batters struggled to play on such a slow surface.

Only six fours and six sixes were hit by both teams in the match combined.

“I see a problem here for the ICC because how are you going to change the pitch? It is not like it is underprepared. They have put in a lot of effort to make it international standard, a good fair T20 pitch. Maybe they could just keep rolling that pitch down and down and try and get it as firm as possible,” said Manjrekar.

“Outfield is another concern. It was amazing that David Miller hit that ground shot for four. So instead of four, if you are just getting one or two, that’s going to get the score down. The pitch has its trickery. So it’s going to be tough. I don’t see that changing dramatically. Maybe the pitch will get a little better. But the outfield is going to be a problem.”

“It is a very, very slow outfield. And you can see every time the ball pitches into the outfield, the sand sort of bursts through. So there’s a lot of sand base there. So yeah, I think there is some work for the ICC to do,” he concluded.

The next match at this New York stadium will be between Ireland and Canada on June 7.