The 22 yards that may become a touchstone for MLC's success

The idea of a professional T20 league (MLC) in America is enough to create intrigue. The intrigue transforms into a buzz when the IPL teams sweep in like royalty with the superstars of world cricket. That buzz will grab eyeballs and may well put a few bums on the seats momentarily. However, the onus will be on cricket to metamorphose that buzz into sustained fanfare. And invariably the mantle always lies on the 22 yard strip to create that spectacle.

The Grand Prairie stadium, located 15 minutes from Dallas, is set to host 12 out of 19 games including the opening game and the playoffs. An erstwhile baseball stadium, the facility was revamped for cricket just in time to host the inaugural season of the MLC. The work only began in November to layout the pitch block and with no cricket games scheduled in the run up to the opening game, folks at MLC are about to dive into the unknown with stakes riding sky high for the $120m cricket 'startup'.

To assuage those fears, they have just got the right man to exorcise the demons a freshly laid strip might spring up, if one had to go by his track record. Dave Agnew, a pitch curator from Adelaide for 20 years, has sort of built up a reputation as a 'crisis man' in the industry.

Agnew was roped in by Canada GT20 in 2019 to build a cricket field within 2 months out of almost something like a paddock farm. 20 games were scheduled in 2 weeks on those fresh wickets that held onto their own with average scores over 180. He also steered the ship for the CPL in the COVID-struck seasons. The 2020 edition saw over 30 games in 3 weeks spread across 2 facilities in Trinidad while the 2021 edition saw those many games played at a single venue at Warner Park. The pitches stayed true with average first innings scores of over 160. In 2018, he also helped the Church Street Park in North Carolina brave hurricane Florence 4 days before a T20 WC Qualifier event which was wrapped up successfully in the end.

It's a general belief that it takes a cricket pitch the time between two monsoons to mature. With time of essence, Agnew took 3 weeks to build the pitch block and 8 weeks thereafter to build the sand-based outfield.

"We've picked the warm season Bermuda grass. It's important to pick your grass correctly. The rye grass you get in England and New Zealand may not work here. We've put a 5 inch layer of sand under 6 inches of clay, which is very important. The roots of that grass will get down into the clay and go all the way down. And if we can have a nice, beautiful layer of sand that the roots can get into further we're going to have a healthy set of pitches. If we can get that, it just hastens up the recovery process of the pitches between games. It is important when only a couple of facilities are used for the entire duration of the tournament"

"When you see the texture of the pitch, it's just half of the whole story and what I am more interested in is slightly more than what's on top. I'm more interested in what's happening underneath. Because that will eventually dictate how sporting the wicket truly will be"

Apart from Agnew's acumen, another silver lining for MLC is the availability of high grade binding clay whose particles bind and hold the compaction a whole lot better than any standard clay. The binding clay helps with the bounce and produces true wickets which is conducive to shot making. The clay is sourced from a plant near Philadelphia and Agnew believes America is assured of a constant and reliable source of clay in the future because of the baseball industry, which requires a lot more clay to set up their baseball diamonds.

"As a curator it is heartening to see the abundance of good clay in America. It helps immensely when there is a sustained source of clay available because of the renovations, top ups and relaying and releveling the pitches require. I for a fact know that there is shortage of good clay in Eastern Australia at the moment"

Agnew aims to build and nurture consistent high grade cricket pitches all over the country. The quality of pitches will dictate the quality of junior and domestic cricket. And the quality of those crop of players will eventually manifest the health of MLC in years to come.

* Buy your MLC tickets on the official Major League Cricket website (https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/matches)