The chief curator at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead guarantees a pristine but lightning fast outfield and perfect pitch to suit the DLF IPL Twenty20 format
The chief curator at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead guarantees a pristine but lightning fast outfield and perfect pitch to suit the DLF IPL Twenty20 format but he cannot undertake to predict the weather conditions for tomorrow's double header at this famous Test venue by the sea in Durban.
The city, which resembles Mumbai because of its huge Indian-origin population and a great support powerbase for Indian cricket ever since South Africa's return to the international stage, awaits the clash between the Yuvraj Singh's Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders plus the second game of the day featuring the ever-popular Mumbai Indians, led by Sachin Tendulkar, versus the Rajasthan Royals.
"Everything is in place," said Wilson Ngobese, who was voted one of the best curators in South Africa two years ago. "From the floodlighting to the nitty-gritty of having enough fuel for the super-sopper has been checked and that every little box has been ticked off for the big day tomorrow.
"But I cannot guarantee the weather. The forecast does not look good. It is bleak. It will be sad if the rain interferes as it did in Cape Town at the weekend but that element is in the lap of the Almighty."
The forecast for tomorrow is a low of 18 degrees to a high of 21 degrees Celsius with a 60 per cent chance of rain.
And the days following that are also expected to be wet. On Wednesday when there are no matches scheduled because of the South African elections, there will be a 30 per cent chance of rain while on Thursday more rain is predicted.
That's when the Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils tie is scheduled to take place.
The 2009 edition of the IPL got off to a super weekend but yesterday rain marred both matches in the double header featuring Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils u2014 a match reduced to 12 overs a side which was eventually won by the Daredevils by 10 wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis method and the Kolkaka Knight Riders and the Deccan Chargers. Both games took place at Sahara Park, Newlands.
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