Cricket: All eyes on Adelaide pitch after AC/DC concert

The Adelaide Oval will host the first day-night test match start Friday. Photo /Getty

South Australian cricket officials have complete faith in their groundstaff to have turned an AC/DC rock concert venue back to its pristine conditions for this week's day-night test.

Staff were rolling out long tracts of turf to replace that where the Aussie rocker's stage was set up on Adelaide Oval for Saturday night's concert.

About 800m needed replacing at the 53,000 capacity venue. Shifting between music and cricket is nothing new at the oval. Last October, there was a six-day turnaround between the end of a Rolling Stones concert and a Sheffield Shield fixture.

"We are extremely pleased with the condition of the oval after the AC/DC concert," South Australian Cricket Association chief executive Keith Bradshaw said.

"(Curator) Damian Hough and his ground staff have been meticulous in their preparation of a world-class pitch and outfield and we are extremely confident that we will see a great contest between Australia and New Zealand."

Plastic covering had been used over the turf during the concert and Hough is optimistic.
''The outfield will be fine, you can see there has been a concert but we'll replace any turf we need to," he said.

There are high expectations that, by leaving more grass on the test pitch, to help protect the pink ball against significant deterioration, there will be help for the seamers, and the batsmen traditionally enjoy Adelaide Oval anyway. Spin is tipped to play its part too, as the test reaches its latter stages.