The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Global Cricket Academy head curator has been to Pakistan to present a seminar on the art of preparing pitches.
Based at Dubai Sports City, the ICC’s Global Cricket Academy is the focal point of the games development, and is providing educational courses to ensure that best practice is shared among the entire cricket playing nations.
The ICC’s Global Cricket Academy is one of seven academies in Dubai Sports City, including football, rugby, hockey, golf, tennis, and swimming. They will all provide elite facilities to allow international sides to train, while also offering coaching and educational courses to aspiring youngsters and local clubs.
“The ICC’s Global Cricket Academy is committed to improving all areas of the game and the seminar allowed more than 30 ground staff from Pakistan to come together to discuss the art of preparing a cricket pitch,” Tony Hemming, the ICC Global Cricket Academy’s head curator said.
The seminar dealt with pitch construction, preparation and measuring pitch performance. Hemming also discussed environmental issues, planning for Test matches and effective record keeping.
The invited guests were treated to a presentation on the construction of Dubai Sports City’s 25,000-seater cricket stadium with details on how soil brought over from Pakistan was being used in the building of the pitch.
“To develop cricketers of the future, we also need to develop young curators who have an educational science background that can work alongside the more experienced curators. In time they will be producing pitches that can favor a more entertaining game on the Asian sub-continent,” Hemming added.
The ICC’s Global Cricket Academy, is building wickets that replicate playing conditions across the world. It is envisaged that this will help to attract many of the top teams and also to provide a wide spectrum of coaching in what will be a unique environment.
“Part of our role at the ICC’s Global Cricket Academy is to ensure that we share good practice across all of the cricket-playing nations and we are perfectly placed to facilitate these hugely productive meetings,” said the ICC’s Global Cricket Academy’s General Manager Marc Archer.
About Dubai Sports City
Dubai Sports City (DSC), the cornerstone project of Dubailand, is a US$4billion, 50 million square-foot, mixed-use development which will be the world’s first integrated, purpose-built sports city.
The development will be built around five major sports venues:
• a 60,000-capacity multi-purpose outdoor stadium for football, rugby, athletics and other sports and non-sports events
• a 10,000-seater multi-purpose indoor arena suitable for all hard-court sports as well as concerts and other events and also including a removable ice rink
• a 25,000-capacity cricket stadium, expandable to 30,000, with state-of-the-art facilities for players, match officials, VIPs, spectators and the media
• a 5,000-seater field hockey stadium
• a 72-par, 18-hole championship golf course designed by Ernie Els
In addition to the stadia, Dubai Sports City will feature a series of major sports academy facilities including:
• Dubai Sports City Football Academy, the home of Manchester United Soccer Schools, Dubai
• a David Lloyd Tennis Academy
• a Butch Harmon School of Golf, the first such facility outside the United States
• the International Cricket Council’s own Global Cricket Academy
• the World Hockey Academy, a first-of-its-kind partnership with the International Hockey Federation
• top-class multi-sport training facilities including a gymnasium and a 50-metre swimming pool
• a world-class sports medicine and rehabilitation centre
Designed as a lifestyle development, Dubai Sports City will also feature comprehensive community facilities including:
▪ Next Generation Country Club and spa facility
▪ a large-scale shopping mall
▪ two retail hubs offering up-scale dining and boutique shopping
▪ a range of schools
▪ medical facilities
▪ community centres
▪ hotels
▪ extensive residential projects
