The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been taking steps towards making matches competitive and to create a level playing field. More and more focus on various aspects involving the game is being looked at and measures are being taken to continuously improve upon the existing structures and quality of cricket. To that end, the BCCI will be conducting the Level – 1 Certification course for Curators at the National Cricket Academy for the first time.
The course in Bengaluru will be held from July 25th to August 3rd, 2016. Both – theoretical as well as practical aspects will be equally stressed upon during the duration of the course. Chairman, Ground and Pitches committee for BCCI, Daljit Singh, Chief Curator, ICC Academy Tony Hemming and PR Vishwanathan are the among the faculty members who will conduct the 10-day long course.
“The emphasis will be more on preparation of pitches and how to prepare a standard pitch. Now that the Ranji Trophy is (also) going to be held at neutral venues, it is important that people understand what a good pitch is and there must be some uniformity in the preparation,” Daljit Singh told BCCI.TV.
Topics such as pitch preparation, turf maintenance, density meter, moisture meter etc. will be covered in the course.
Speaking about the background and the run-up to this course he explained, “The BCCI has conducted three certification courses starting in 2012 at Mohali. A lot has happened about improving the pitches over the years, but it was not a well organized structure like umpiring, coaching and other disciplines of the game. After the success of the first course, two more were held (in 2013 and 2014). From the three-certification courses about 62 people had qualified as certified curators and are presently working for their respective associations across the country. One refresher course was held last year (2015) for those who cleared these certification courses. Then it was felt that we must go one step ahead and so this year the first Level - 1 course is being organized. Candidates who scored 75% or more in the first three courses have been invited through their associations for the first batch,” he explained.
Discussing the forthcoming course, he added, “We are taking help of outside agencies for (topics such as) fertilizer or soil (etc). We are inviting one faculty from ICC, Dubai (Tony Hemming). The cricket part is looked after in-house by Mr. PR Vishwanathan – member of pitch committee.”
“The candidates have to clear both – practical and theoretical examinations. The practical includes construction of the pitches, preparation of the pitch, selection of soil and the required relevant topics as per the curriculum,” Daljit Singh said while speaking about the modalities of qualification.
List of participants:
|
S.No.
|
Name of Candidate
|
Association
|
|
|
|
1
|
Taposh Chatterjee
|
Team Rajasthan
|
|
|
2
|
Ishtiyaq Ahmed Khan
|
J & K CA
|
|
|
3
|
Sunil Chauhan
|
HPCA
|
|
|
4
|
Samandar Singh Chouhan
|
MPCA
|
|
|
5
|
Rakesh Kumar
|
Punjab CA
|
|
|
6
|
Shamim Mirza
|
Chhattisgarh SCS
|
|
|
7
|
Ashish Bhowmik
|
Tripura CA
|
|
|
8
|
Y L Chandra Sekhar Rao
|
Hyderabad CA
|
|
|
9
|
Pankaj Kumar Patnaik
|
Odisha CA
|
|
|
10
|
Prakash M. Adhav
|
CCI, Mumbai
|
|
|
11
|
ShyamBahadur Singh
|
Jharkhand SCA
|
|
|
12
|
Atul C Bedade
|
Baroda CA
|
|
|
13
|
Mohanan T
|
Kerala CA
|
|
|
14
|
Kommaddi Naga Mallaiah
|
Andhra CA
|
|
|
15
|
Praveen Hinganikar
|
Vidarbha CA
|
|
|
16
|
Alok Sharma
|
Team Rajasthan
|
|
|
17
|
Anil Kumar
|
Haryana CA
|
|
|
18
|
L. Prashanth
|
KSCA
|
|
|
19
|
Dr. R. Anil Kumar
|
Kerala CA
|
|
