Glamorgan director of cricket Matthew Maynard insisted the county’s Cardiff HQ would have no problems staging the first Ashes Test in July after a pitch there was labelled “poor”.
An England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) pitch panel including Mike Denness, England’s captain during their losing Ashes tour of Australia back in 1974/75, was convened to consider the pitch used for the Friends Provident Trophy one-day match at Cardiff on Tuesday, May 12 between Glamorgan and Essex.
They upheld the umpires’ decision that the Sophia Gardens pitch had demonstrated excessive turn and should therefore be rated “poor” after the Welsh county were bowled out for 124 in a match where Essex and Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria took four wickets for 16 runs.
Glamorgan were penalised two points but the penalty won’t be applied this season. Instead it will take effect in the 2010 Friends Provident Trophy.
Spin is one of the few areas where England appear to have an advantage over Australia, and Cardiff – which will be staging its first Test when the Ashes opener stars there on July 8 – has long had a reputation for taking turn.
That has led to widespread speculation that England, unusually for a home Test in recent seasons, will play two spinners, most likely Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, in the Welsh capital.
Glamorgan lost both their chief executive and their groundsman towards the end of last season but former England batsman Maynard was confident the pitch prepared by Keith Exton, previously at Leicestershire, for what will be the first Test ever played in Cardiff, would be up to the mark.
“I’ve played on a lot of wickets worse than the one we used last Tuesday and they haven’t been marked as poor,” he said.
“Obviously we haven’t played on the Test wicket at all but the ground looks an absolute picture, the pitch looks fantastic and I’m sure Keith will get the Ashes strip just right,” Maynard added.
“He’s a very experienced groundsman and he knows exactly what he is doing.
“I can’t see there being any issues whatsoever before the Test match.”
Australia leg-spin great Shane Warne for one believes both Swann and Panesar will be in England’s Ashes side.
“It’s been a long time since English spin bowlers have had an impact on an Ashes series, but it looks as though that could change this summer,” Warne wrote in his column in The Times last week.
“Now that Graeme Swann has established himself in the team and Monty Panesar is waiting in the wings, I think there’s a real possibility that England will take on Australia with two spinners in their side.”
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