Field dimensions a worry for David Warner at Eden Park

Eden Park will host the final of the tri series.

Dimensions at Eden Park can be a cause of worry in the final. (Twitter)

Australia and New Zealand will play the final of the tri-series at Eden Park on Wednesday. The match  is expected to be another high scoring contest given the fact that in the previous match at the same venue Australia chased their highest ever T20 total. 
A total of 488 runs were scored at 12.7 an over as the sides smashed 32 sixes before Australia completed a world-record run chase of 245 to claim a five-wicket win. 

Eden Park which is basically a rugby ground will host the final of a cricket match with very different field dimensions. Australian skipper David Warner is making his best efforts to counter the shorter field dimensions. 

On the field dimensions, Warner said "You probably have to have obscure fields," Warner told reporters on Tuesday. "You might have to have like a deep fly slip on the boundary instead of a third man."

"They're bizarre little catching spots where you might get a catch. In Australia, you set fields for certain players ... (to) where they're going to hit. Here those fields generally they can hit it for six."

"Where's a mistimed pull shot going to go? Over the top for six? You might have one just behind the keeper. You might have, for the spinners, everyone on the straight boundary and no one there (square of the wicket) and make them try to hit a reverse sweep and maybe get a wicket. You've just got to think on your feet when you're out there.It's a challenging one but at the end of the day I don't think it (was about) how poorly the bowlers bowled at all. The bowlers bowled well."

Eden Park is best known as a rugby ground and its boundaries fall well short of the International Cricket Council's 59.5-metre (65-yard) minimum. The situation is allowed to stand because the Auckland stadium hosted international cricket before the ICC regulations were introduced in 2007.

NZC chief operating officer Anthony Crummy said the governing body "absolutely" backed Eden Park as a venue."It's unique, you can't deny that a lot of cricket grounds are," he told Radio Sport.

The captains from both teams also spoke on their team combination before the all-important final. 

While Warner has hinted on the additional spinner in the form of Adam Zampa, Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson also spoke on the same lines when asked about his team combination. 

The weather might play a spoilsport in the contest as an unwanted cyclone is expected to play a spoilsport. However, there are reports that the cyclone may not affect the game directly. 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 20 Feb, 2018

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