What is a Pitch curator?
The term pitch curator will be familiar to any true cricket fan. Have you ever had a thought, what is a pitch curator? Well, here is the answer to your doubt. A pitch curator or grounds men (the name they call themselves) is responsible for looking after the pitch after and in-between every game played. All the things are not done by the pitch curator himself but he has the authority to control and manage all the activities that are related to the maintenance of the pitch and ground. One of the major responsibilities of the pitch curator is to prepare the playing pitch ahead of the scheduled match with appropriate specifications needed. He decides about the amount of grass that has to be retained in the ground and the wetness that has to be retained on the pitch. A pitch curator must have good knowledge about the weather conditions and the topography of the soil and the place as he is responsible for maintaining it.
Top 5 Pitch Curators of all time:
Pitch curating is a difficult job as it needs great care and the type of predictions that has to be done before the game starts. In fact the course of a game came to be easily decided by a pitch curator. Here is the list of the top itch curators.
1. Chris Scott:
Undoubtedly the best pitch curator of all time, the only curator to win a Man of the Match award. Chris Scott is he curator of Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. This might sound strange, but Chris Scott has won this once. In a match between South Africa and New Zealand held in 2000 the day 1 of the test was halted because of rain. By the hard work from the team of Chris Scott and his team it was possible to restart the game on day 2 without any delay. This happened again on day four and the match were restarted on day 5 without any delay. Because of this extraordinary dedication and effort he was declared as the Man of the Match.
2. Brett Sipthorpe:
Brett Sipthorpe is the curator of Basins Reserve of Wellington. It is one of the oldest cricket stadiums in New Zealand and Brett was the curator here from 2006-2015. He is very well known for perfect test pitches that support fast bowlers in the beginning and batsmen and spinners in the second half. The test pitches made by him will have grass for the first two days that will do favour for the bowlers. From the day 3 onwards the greenery on the pitch fades and it starts supporting batsmen. When it comes to test matches Brett is the perfect curator to be chosen.
3. Steve Bricks:
Steve Bricks is the curator for the Trent Bridge in England. He was awarded with the best curator award twice by the English Cricket Board within the seven years of his service. He is very well known for making pitches that supports the bowlers for initial days and then supports the batsmen. The pitches created by Bricks for the one day matches also have something for the bowlers. With an experience which spans over 25 years, he is one of the greatest pitch curators of all time.
4. Michael Hylton:
The name Micheal Hylton will be familiar to all the cricket fans as he is one of the greatest pitch curators of all time. He is the curator of Sabrina Park in Jamaica. This pitch is one of the fastest pitches in the world. As a person who has strict notions against preparing pitches which are entirely batsmen friendly, he believes that test match pitches have to be prepared for fast bowlers and the best performances are the result of the batsmen’s core ability. Though he has this theory, his pitches have also produced some of the best knocks from Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith and KL Rahul scoring 150+ runs. Of the 48 test matches played at Sabina Park, 33 had results.
5. Sunil Chauhan:
Only pitch curator from India, Sunil Chauhan is one of the best curators in the current era. He is the curator for Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala. As the highest constructed cricket stadium and pitch in the world Suinil Chauhan is known for making pitches that supports both pacers and spinners and also the technically good batsmen. It will be a rare sight to see pacers getting a great start in the Indian pitches. The average first innings test score at Dharamshala stadium is 240 and in the case of T20’s it is 140.
