Magic mark: World Cup curators told to deliver run-fest roads

Cricket’s ‘unattainable’ ODI batting mark will be under serious threat at this year’s World Cup in England, with curators following strict orders from above.

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World Cup curators have been told to deliver pitches without “huge lateral movement but with good carry” for the tournament that began overnight in England.

The ICC does not take control of the pitches, instead appointing a consultant who has spent 12 months liaising with groundsmen at all 11 venues.

Batsmen are licking their lips at the prospect of flat pitches played on small grounds with expectations a team will thump 500 runs for the first time.

More than 820,000 tickets have already been sold for the anticipated run-fests.

Australian coach Justin Langer warned there would be no swing for fast bowlers while Pat Cummins feared he would only be able to strike with a hard ball for three overs when their campaign begins against Afghanistan.

Usman Khawaja hooks for a boundary at the Rose Bowl. Picture: AFP

But tournament director Steve Elworthy pointed to New Zealand’s Trent Boult (4/33) against India in Saturday’s warm-up match at The Oval.

“Boult swung it and swung it a lot,” Elworthy told the Herald Sun.

“But I haven’t seen too much swing from any other bowlers outside of that. If it’s overcast and it’s muggy I think it will swing, but if it’s dry it probably won’t.

“What excites me is the express pace — 90 miles (145km) of a (Kagiso) Rabada or (Mark) Wood.”

Mitchell Starc clocked 150km with his eighth delivery against Sri Lanka on Monday night.

With 48 games in 46 days ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson will rotate through pitches at each ground, monitoring how many overs are bowled on each deck.

Venues host between three and six World Cup games while there is also the upcoming Ashes series, the recent England-Pakistan ODI series and the domestic program running underneath.

“You don’t want the type of WACA Perth wickets, but you also don’t want an SCG fifth day Test match pitch,” Elworthy said.

“If we have a very dry summer like last year we could see the pitches at the back end of the tournament drying out and turning a bit more.

“What you want is a solid, even-paced, even-bounce wicket. Batsmen want value for shots. You don’t want slow wickets you don’t want extremely quick wickets.”

Pitches drying out would favour Nathan Lyon, who is unlikely to start in Australia’s best XI.

Elworthy redesigned tournament scorecards so the runs column — which increases in blocks of 50 — went from 400 to 500.

Swing bowlers are expected to have trouble moving the ball in England. Picture: AFP

“You’ve got grounds like Taunton that notoriously are very good wickets and you’ve got Australia and Pakistan playing there,” he said.

“In all likelihood (500 runs) is a possibility. If you look at the size of the players, how far they hit it now, the rate of which they score, anything’s possible.

“It could be really cool for the tournament if it happened.”

Australia’s data shows that England has produced the least swing out of all ODI countries this century.

Elworthy, who played four Tests for South Africa from 1998-2002, said white Kookaburra balls “used to swing prodigiously”.

“When we played Alan Donald didn’t open the bowling because of the excessive swing, he used to bowl first change so the ball had less shine and didn’t swing as much,” Elworthy said.

WORLD CUP TICKET DATA

* Fans from 69 countries have purchased tickets for Australia’s clash against South Africa in Manchester on July 6

* More than 820,000 tickets sold (more than 95 per cent of available tickets)

* 3 million ticket applications from 157 countries

* 150,000 women will attend — a record for an international cricket event

* 1000,000 fans under 16 will attend

Originally published as Magic mark: World Cup curators told to deliver run-fest roads