Kadamba
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'Pitch party' fits WACA's madcap image
The 'pitch party' controversy ahead of the WACA Test match between Australia and India is just another example of how they do things differently in the 'wild west'.
The pictures of WACA staff sharing a drink on the playing surface on the eve of the most important match at the ground for the year may beggar belief but, when put in the context of the other truly bizarre incidents that have happened over the years in Perth, don't seem all that strange.
Cameron Sutherland's laissez- faire attitude to his workmates sharing a drink on the very pitch he has spent the past 12 months working on is a throwback to the good old Aussie 'She'll be right' mentality, but it certainly flies in the face of anything that happens on the other side of the Nullarbor.
The surfaces of the major grounds are protected like only children in Melbourne and Sydney and journalists are constantly told at AFL grounds like Etihad Stadium, not to step beyond the boundary line for fear of causing deterioration of the turf. One footprint could prove fatal.
It has been a summer where pitches have been strongly scrutinised and Sutherland must have known when a very green strip, yet to be given its final preparations, appeared in the media this week, that he would be under scrutiny. 'WACA green top has India at fever pitch' screamed the headlines.
Sutherland responded to those concerns by saying that there was still a final cut to be made and that the pictures shown were not a proper representation on what the two teams would be faced with on Friday.Little did we know that the 'final cut' included an impromptu barefoot dance party. So much for the choice between the heavy roller or the light roller. Just roll out the WACA staff please. Sutherland has described the incident, captured by scandal hungry Indian media, as a 'storm in a tea cup' and perhaps in the context of WACA history it is.
This is the same place where two years ago Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi sunk his teeth into the ball in the most blatant fashion possible in one of the most baffling and unsubtle attempts at ball tampering international cricket has ever seen.
There was also the pitch invader who tackled Pakistani opener Khalid Latif on the same day.
Possibly the most notorious pitch invasion in the history of international cricket occurred in 1982 at the WACA, where Terry Alderman severely injured himself after tackling a runaway spectator.
Harking back to 1981, and the WACA was the setting for the infamous confrontation between Dennis Lillee and Javed Miandad, where the Pakistani captain tried to hit the Aussie speedster with his bat.
Local hero Lillee saved his most colourful showings for his home fans, and in 1979 he trotted out to the crease with an aluminium bat. After four balls, he was forced by captain Greg Chappell to change it, but only after a 10-minute argument.
In more modern times, Australia duo Mitch Johnson and Brad Haddin, and giant West Indian spinner Sulieman Benn, all lost their heads in a confrontation which ended in a game of push and shove.
In the context of this litany of WACA madness, maybe Sutherland thought it was alright to conduct the office party on the very surface which was to host a crucial international sporting contest less than 24 hours later. I'm sure after a phone call with his name sake from CA headquarters in Melbourne, he won't be doing it again in 2013.
'Pitch party' fits WACA's madcap image - Cricket - Sportal Australia
The 'pitch party' controversy ahead of the WACA Test match between Australia and India is just another example of how they do things differently in the 'wild west'.
The pictures of WACA staff sharing a drink on the playing surface on the eve of the most important match at the ground for the year may beggar belief but, when put in the context of the other truly bizarre incidents that have happened over the years in Perth, don't seem all that strange.
Cameron Sutherland's laissez- faire attitude to his workmates sharing a drink on the very pitch he has spent the past 12 months working on is a throwback to the good old Aussie 'She'll be right' mentality, but it certainly flies in the face of anything that happens on the other side of the Nullarbor.
The surfaces of the major grounds are protected like only children in Melbourne and Sydney and journalists are constantly told at AFL grounds like Etihad Stadium, not to step beyond the boundary line for fear of causing deterioration of the turf. One footprint could prove fatal.
It has been a summer where pitches have been strongly scrutinised and Sutherland must have known when a very green strip, yet to be given its final preparations, appeared in the media this week, that he would be under scrutiny. 'WACA green top has India at fever pitch' screamed the headlines.
Sutherland responded to those concerns by saying that there was still a final cut to be made and that the pictures shown were not a proper representation on what the two teams would be faced with on Friday.Little did we know that the 'final cut' included an impromptu barefoot dance party. So much for the choice between the heavy roller or the light roller. Just roll out the WACA staff please. Sutherland has described the incident, captured by scandal hungry Indian media, as a 'storm in a tea cup' and perhaps in the context of WACA history it is.
This is the same place where two years ago Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi sunk his teeth into the ball in the most blatant fashion possible in one of the most baffling and unsubtle attempts at ball tampering international cricket has ever seen.
There was also the pitch invader who tackled Pakistani opener Khalid Latif on the same day.
Possibly the most notorious pitch invasion in the history of international cricket occurred in 1982 at the WACA, where Terry Alderman severely injured himself after tackling a runaway spectator.
Harking back to 1981, and the WACA was the setting for the infamous confrontation between Dennis Lillee and Javed Miandad, where the Pakistani captain tried to hit the Aussie speedster with his bat.
Local hero Lillee saved his most colourful showings for his home fans, and in 1979 he trotted out to the crease with an aluminium bat. After four balls, he was forced by captain Greg Chappell to change it, but only after a 10-minute argument.
In more modern times, Australia duo Mitch Johnson and Brad Haddin, and giant West Indian spinner Sulieman Benn, all lost their heads in a confrontation which ended in a game of push and shove.
In the context of this litany of WACA madness, maybe Sutherland thought it was alright to conduct the office party on the very surface which was to host a crucial international sporting contest less than 24 hours later. I'm sure after a phone call with his name sake from CA headquarters in Melbourne, he won't be doing it again in 2013.
'Pitch party' fits WACA's madcap image - Cricket - Sportal Australia
