SA versus IND: rain is likely to play a spoilsport during the first test in Centurion, says curator Brain Bloy

The first Test between India and South Africa starts on December 26 at the Supersport Park in Centurion.

Centurion will host India and South Africa for the first Test. (Image: X

Centurion: The threat of rain is looming ahead of the first Test between India and South Africa, starting on December 26 at Centurion, pitch curator Brain Bloy said on Saturday. According to Bloy, rain is likely to play a spoilsport during the first two days of the Test match, with temperatures dropping slightly.

“The temperature will be super low, about 20 degrees. The temperature is now 34 and will drop to 20. I don’t know what the conditions will be like, if we can play on day 1. Hopefully we get some slack and it will be cool on day 3 and I won’t. I don’t know how many turns will be available,” Bloy told PTI.

According to Bloy, the spinners will not buy much on the track, which means bad news for the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. He also stated that batting first would be an uphill task if the field remains covered for an extended period.

“I can’t guarantee the forecast, but if it stays under cover for most of the two days it could be tricky to bat first because it’s been covered for so long and hasn’t been rolled out for so long. I don’t know how long we will have to get the field ready to play in the current situation.

“So if it starts at 10 a.m. on Day 3, it doesn’t give us much time because it’s in the morning and you start playing at 10 a.m. and really three hours of cold weather and early morning are going to be tough. If it is covered for two days, I assume bowlers would benefit from it,” he added.

“Our goal is to stick to the features, and not do anything different or unusual. I want it to be a typical hard wicket on Centurion’s terms. The wicket is quite green and we have two days left and it is warm, with a little more rolling it would lose a bit more colour, but I’m glad there is a thin, even cover of grass. Looks good,” said Bloy.

So what is a typical Centurion song? “A typical Supersport Park wicket is slower on day 1, a little softer and as time goes on it becomes a little faster and variable. For me, an afternoon finish on the fourth day would always be fantastic, but I have no control over that. We are preparing the stage and players will have to come out and put on the show,” Bloy replied.