Cliff Notes – Dry Leeds could bring batters respite
- Headingley is hosting the first Test of the series, a rarity, with grounds preparation focusing on moisture retention due to minimal rain since February.
- Richard Robinson, Yorkshire’s head of grounds, anticipates a pitch that will “do a little bit” on the first day but flatten out quickly, favouring teams that bowl first.
Dry Leeds could bring batters respite
It’s not often that Headingley gets the first Test of the series in England. Headingley usually hosts a Test much later in the summer, usually the third of the series. Add to it that there has hardly been any rain in Leeds since February. So Richard Robinson, Yorkshire’s head of grounds, has had to carry out a “different kind” of preparation for the Test.
Don’t be alarmed by the green look – indistinguishable from the square really – the pitch wears three days out. It will get a nice trim and a roll. Right now, though, as through the whole preparation, retaining enough moisture is the goal for Robinson and his team, which includes Jasmine Nicholls, former England race-walker and the first woman to make an international pitch when she led the team for the England vs Pakistan women’s T20I.
Robinson has a deep connect with Headingley. The first Test he came here for as a boy was during Botham’s Ashes. He went on to play as a contemporary of Michael Vaughan and umpire Richard Kettleborough. Now he gets to prepare the canvas for morem epics. He is satisfied with the hardness of the surface, which should make for good true bounce. That is also what England have wanted under Brendon McCullum as the coach. “They just want to have a good surface so it’s true, really, so we can hit through the line of the ball,” Robinson said. “That’s really what they’re looking for.”
The grass will come down to 8mm by the morning of the Test, which is fairly standard for a Test at Headingley. Robinson feels a final assessment of the pitch should only be made on that morning. He expects it to “do a little bit” on the first day and to flatten out quite quickly because of the heat expected.
The pitch remained covered during the afternoon on Tuesday to not let it dry too much even as Ben Stokes and England trained on the practice pitches. Stokes ended the session by bowling at a single stump. It seemed a perfect day for cricket with the sun out and the temperature around 22 degrees celsius. It was quite breezy too, which can dry the surface out quickly.
The forecast for the Test is for it to get hotter, closer to 30 degrees, but it is not likely to break up the surface. So if the pitch is going to flatten out quickly and not break up deep into the Test, it might pay to bowl first and exploit the conditions on day one. This has certainly been the trend in England when McCullum has been the coach: teams have chosen to field in 16 out of 22 Tests, winning nine of those and losing six. When teams have chosen to bat first on the six occasions, they have lost each of those Tests.
England have won both the Headingley Tests in this period, chasing down 296 against New Zealand and 251 against Australia. That Ashes Test was also Robinson’s debut as Headingley’s head groundsperson. The eight innings in these Tests ranged from a highest of 360 to a lowest of 224. Neither diabolical nor high-scoring. Robinson hopes for more of the same, but there might be a few more runs in it this weekend.
India, on the other hand, have not played a lot at Headingley in recent years. Before their innings defeat in 2021, they had last played at the ground in 2002, famously winning by an innings and 46 runs.