India’s build-up to the final Test at The Oval opened with an awkward scene on Tuesday. Head coach Gautam Gambhir became embroiled in a finger-wagging argument with Lee Fortis, Surrey’s head groundsman, after Fortis asked the touring party to keep clear of large parts of the main square.
Eyewitnesses said Fortis, understandably protective of surfaces that still have club, county and international commitments deep into September, was unhappy that so many Indian players and support staff – some of them standing inches from the Test pitch – were milling about. A few, it is believed, had turned up in training shoes rather than spikes, yet the groundsman still felt the square was getting crowded.
India had just arrived from Manchester, where they drew the fourth Test to keep the series alive, and this was meant to be nothing more than an optional session. Support staff frequently appear early, and on this occasion Gambhir soon joined his assistants. Fortis’s request for people to back away travelled up the chain and, before long, the India head coach went over to speak for himself. From the press box it certainly looked heated – Gambhir gesturing, Fortis standing his ground – although no profanity was audible.
Neither man explained the full exchange publicly. Fortis, politely declining questions, kept walking. Gambhir chose silence too. Instead, India’s assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak tried to add context.
“When some of us coaches went to see the wicket, a member of the groundstaff said stay away at least 2.5 metres, which was a little surprising. Because it is the pitch, the match is starting day after, it will be a five-day Test, and we’re standing in our joggers, so we felt a little awkward.”
Kotak insisted no one wore metal spikes on the square. “(We were) just looking at the wicket, with rubber spikes, day after there’s a Test match there, there’s nothing wrong (with that). Curators also need to understand the people they are talking to, they are highly skilled and intelligent. For example if you go on the ground now where we practised, you won’t even see that any bowler in the outfield would have marked with his spikes. That all comes from the head coach. We try and see this ground also doesn’t get damaged.”
He hinted the discussion soured because of tone rather than content. “When you’re working with very intelligent and highly-skilled people, if you sound a bit arrogant or if you come across like … you can be protective, but at the end of the day it is a cricket pitch. It is not an antique where you can’t touch, because otherwise if it is 200 years old it can be broken.”
Kotak finished the point with a shrug. “We were standing there (on the square) with rubber (spikes). You tell me a day after a batsman will be sliding to survive a run-out, a bowler will be sliding to stop the ball, so you tell me; maybe he (Fortis) is…”
He did not complete the sentence, choosing instead to smile and walk away, which probably tells its own story.
Groundsmen across the world have a tricky balance to strike. Protect the square and you risk annoying players who see grass as workspace; allow carte blanche and you risk a scruffed surface on match day. Fortis’s caution is understandable. The Oval hosts Championship cricket, The Hundred, club finals and, of course, this deciding Test. Wear and tear multiplies quickly.
From India’s side, the frustration is equally plain. A touring Test squad wants to inspect the surface, rehearse lengths, grind out cover-drives on close-cut turf and generally settle in. They had been given three practice strips, yet the route to those strips runs over the main square.
Privately, senior players said the matter was “done and dusted” once both camps cooled, and Wednesday’s full training block is expected to proceed under ordinary guidelines. Fortis, one insider joked, might use extra ropes.
For now, the series remains locked, London’s weather looks dry, and the cricket itself – thankfully – will soon take over.
