Mumbai Cricket Association
Date of inspection: 12 September 2002
Present: Nadim Memon (Curator)
Dhiraj Parsana (BCCI - Grounds and Wickets - West )
Kasturi Rangan ( BCCI - Chairman Grounds and Wickets)
Bill Walsley (NZ Sports Turf Institute)______________________________________________________________________________________
Present condition of ground
The cricket square looks to have been laid to a high standard of levelness and the outfield looks to be smooth and uniformly graded with grass establishing. The block has been established with hybrid Bermuda (No. 1 selection) and the outfield with common Cynodon dactylon.
The outfield now has pop-up irrigation. The block is irrigated by hand hosing.
Prospects for sporting pitches
The cricket square previously used a red soil from Surat. A new red soil has been used in the block coming from in the vicinity of Alibag, Roha and Uran. This red soil appears to be well structured and has a moderately high sand content (Appendix 2). It does not hold much water and would tend to dry out quickly. It will be interesting to see how the new red soil performs. With in excess of 200 days of cricket it may be an easy soil to manage and prepare pitches quickly. I am not optimistic that the red soil will prove to be the best soil for producing the highest quality sporting cricket pitches.
Limitations on producing a quality outfield
The outfield could be one of the best now that a pop-up irrigation system is installed. Water is tracked in and stored in tanks. Water shortage will be the main limiting factor. The outfield mowing capacity is inadequate and needs to be increased.
Equipment limitations
There looks to be a good range of rollers, covers and sponge rollers. I would like to see the BCCI dual drum roller modified to concentrate the weight over the large roller. (Appendix 14).
I recommend that three petrol-powered walk behind mowers are purchased to mow the outfield.
(Appendix 7).
A dedicated petrol-powered cricket pitch mower is also needed.
Organisation limitations to producing a high quality cricket venue
The Mumbai Cricket Association are to be commended for investing resources in upgrading the stadium.
Nadim Memon is doing an impressive job co-ordinating work at this ground as well as several others.
The Association is encouraged to give some thought to how to retain an experienced curator, and how potential new curators can gain experience and training (Appendix 15). I would like to see the position become a professional one at an important venue like this.
