Kingsmead says it will be ready for rest of season

Kingsmead has provided an assurance that the outfield issue which caused the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand to be abandoned earlier this week will not affect any other matches this season. Durban do not host a match for another five and a half weeks, when South Africa play Australia in an ODI on October 5, and acting CEO Rajesh Behari insists they will be ready.

“We are already hard at work taking measures to ensure that the condition of the outfield does not impact on both international and domestic fixtures in the future,” Behari said in a statement.

Already, ground staff at Kingsmead have filled the exposed patches with top soil and have fertilised the field to prompt the grass to grow as they wait for the ICC’s verdict after the outfield was rated poor by ICC match referee Andy Pycroft. CSA had 14 days from the issue of the report card to respond to it. The ground will then either receive a warning or a fine up to US$15,000.

In mitigation of the state of Kingsmead’s outfield, which was deemed too soft for play on three days of the Test match, was that Durban experienced unseasonal rainfall of more than 400 millimetres in July and 65mm on the second night of the match. The heavy downpours meant the outfield was not allowed to settle after it was decompacted and relaid mid-June, following what CSA said were complaints by the South African and …

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