New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS): Former English cricketer Paul Taylor has been around cricket for more than 40 years of his life. From representing England to racking up extraordinary numbers in first class, he has seen the grassroots of the sport and is actively trying to revolutionise the Indian game by the introduction of Stitched Hybrid Pitches, with his company SIS Pitches.
The Stitched Hybrid pitches combine a majority of natural turf grass with around five per cent of twisted yarn and have proven to extend the longevity of the pitch. It also allows three times the amount of games to take place at the venue.
SIS Pitches has started their journey in India and have successfully implanted these pitches in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) for practice and have yielded solid results.
“We've installed eight pitches at the HPC Stadium in Dharamshala. There are four on the main stadium site. and then there's two each in the practice areas. The pitches on the main stadium were used for practice, for the two IPL games that were recently played there, for range hitting and the feedback initially was very good. there was more pace, and more bounce,” Paul Taylor told IANS.
The England & Wales Cricket Board approved the use of the hybrid pitches for white ball games in 2019 and the ICC allowed international games to be allowed on them in 2022.
A number of world renowned grounds in the likes of Lords, Edgbaston, Sydney, Adelaide Oval and Eden Park have been using the hybrid pitches installed by SIS.
“The Indian players who used them didn't appreciate that they were hybrid pitches, which is a good thing . A couple of the English players did notice because there were a couple of bare areas from a previous game that had not fully recovered and they could see a few fibers. So Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Tom Curran ,and Liam Livingstone played there and they noticed it was a hybrid,” he added.
Given that the cricketing fraternity is confused by the new pitches being introduced in the game after the use of drop-in pitches in the USA phase of the T20 World Cup, Paul emphasized on how different the two surfaces are and the benefits of the new innovation.
“A drop in pitch, is a fully natural surface that's built in sort of movable trays that are lifted in and out of a cricket ground or a sports stadium but it's still a fully natural pitch. with natural grass. A hybrid pitch is one where artificial fibers are injected into the natural turf surface and effectively gives the profile of the soil and the grass strength and stability. and that enables more play to take place, the pitch lives longer. The pace and bounce will increase over time. and effectively, you can play up to three times the amount of cricket on the same pitch,” concluded Paul.