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After receiving a warning about the state of the
outfield at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium from their
former batter and current Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott, England’s boundary
fielders are preparing for a difficult day in Dharamsala on Tuesday.
Several players stumbled or lost their footing when
fielding in the deep during Bangladesh’s six-wicket victory over Afghanistan on
Saturday due to the patchy and uneven nature of the grass on the sand-based
outfield. Long-standing issues with the outfield at the stadium led to a
last-minute shift of an India-Australia Test to Indore in February.
Trott had previously stated that Mujeeb Ur Rahman was
“lucky” to avoid suffering “a serious knee injury” as his
knee sunk into the ground while he was trying to make a boundary save. It is
believed that he has spoken with England players to alert them to the situation
before their match against Bangladesh.
The outfield was rated as “average” in the
match officials’ report for the match on Saturday, while Andy Atkinson, the ICC
independent pitch consultant, visited it on Sunday and gave it a
“comfortable” rating.
“The process for assessing the condition of the
pitch and outfield lies with the match officials under the ICC Pitch and Outfield
Monitoring Process, and the outfield at Dharamsala was rated as average after
the Afghanistan vs Bangladesh match,” an ICC spokesperson said.
“Additionally, the ICC independent pitch consultant has taken a look at
the outfield today, and is comfortable with the conditions – as is Javagal
Srinath, the Match Referee for the next game.”
“There’s been a lot of chat about it, hasn’t
there?” Bairstow said. “The last thing you want is two guys going off
with knee injuries or something. It can contribute to shoulders as well, if
you’re diving and your elbows get stuck in the ground. It will be very
difficult to hold someone back if they see a ball and they try to stop it: it’s
a natural reaction to go for it.”
Bairstow’s ankle is still “getting better as time
goes on”. He said: “It’s still relatively fresh. But, touch wood,
there hasn’t been any adverse reaction to different surfaces. Your calves and
Achilles and anything… people need to make sure you do everything possible to
make sure those areas are loose and able to cope with the stress of a
sand-based outfield.”