From Adelaide to New York - How the drop-in pitch at the New York stadium will be installed

Along with the new year, the attention of the cricketing world has shifted to the next global event on the calendar; the T20 World Cup. Coming on the heels of the 50-over World Cup in November 2023, the tournament is set to generate a buzz of excitement as it takes place in the United States of America for the first time.

In an expanded tournament, comprising of 20 teams for the first time, the likes of Uganda, Oman, Papua New Guinea, USA and Canada will have the chance to test themselves against some of the biggest teams and players in world cricket.

How the drop-in pitch at the New York stadium will be installed

While the Caribbean islands have hosted World Cups before, this is new ground for the USA, which will be hosting a major global event for the first time. As a result, efforts have been in full swing to ensure the facilities in the country are up to international standards.

One of the venues, in New York, is the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Eisenhower Park. The stadium is set to be a temporary facility with a seating capacity of 34,000 people. As part of the preparations, plans are in place to provide the venue with a drop-in pitch.

Drop-in pitches are those which are prepared outside a stadium before being put in place for a match of a season, as opposed to being prepared naturally within the ground itself. They are mainly used in Australia, where cricket stadiums also host rugby and football matches, so damage to the pitches need to be avoided.

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Speaking to Channel 7 in Australia, Adelaide Oval head groundsman Daniel Hough explained how the pitches for this stadium would be prepared in Adelaide, and then transported to New York to be 'dropped in'. He said,

We put them in a shipping container and send them really wherever we want around the world. But they've gone over to Florida. And I've just come back from a month of work over there putting the trays together, putting the soil in, compacting them and putting the grass on. So we're in the grow-in phase.

We've got a business, a company over there called LandTek that are helping us with the grow-in phase. Then there's a couple more strategic trips throughout the next six months to do some work on them and then transport them from Florida all the way up to New York where we'll put them in and prepare them.

Hough said that this was a new challenge, particularly logistically, thanks to the large distances the pitches would be travelling. Drop-in pitches have been criticised in the past for not deteriorating in a manner similar to natural surfaces, but that has improved over the years.

Which matches will be held at Nassau Stadium during the T20 World Cup?

The Nassau County Cricket Stadium will host eight matches at the T20 World Cup 2024. Here is the list of matches to be held at the venue. 

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