Simon Lee, the head groundsman at Hampshire, has hinted that there will be pace, bounce, and carry in the pitch for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final. India and New Zealand will be locking horns with each other in the WTC final, slated to begin on June 18 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. While Lee acknowledged that making such a wicket in England could be a hard thing, he”ll try to get some pace in the wicket without “over-rolling it and killing it”. Lee wants to ensure the WTC final becomes a competitive affair and there is some class batting or an amazing spell of bowling.

During a recent interaction with ESPNCrinfo, Simon Lee said, “For me personally I just want to get something out that has some pace, bounce, and carry in the pitch. It can be a hard thing to do in England as the weather doesn’t help us most of the time. I’m a cricket fan and I want to produce a pitch where the cricket lovers have to watch every ball in case they miss something, be that some class batting or an amazing spell of bowling.”

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Lee feels the wicket can also be expected to be assisting the spinners since “pitches dry out very quickly”.

Elaborating the same, the head groundsman said, “As I said, the forecast is looking okay, the pitches dry out very quickly here as we do have some sand mixed into our cricket loam, which helped it hold together when the pitches were re-laid some 10 years ago, but it can help it spin as well.”

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The Indian cricket team landed in Southampton on June 3 and every member of the touring contingent underwent three-day mandatory hard quarantine. At the Hampshire Bowl, the players were tested again before they started training for the WTC final.