Batsmen eye off 42m boundary at Edgbaston

Batsmen taking strike during Australia's ICC Champions Trophy warm-up match against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Monday will do well to put the boundary on the western side of the ground out of their minds. 

The Australians trained on Sunday at the Birmingham venue where ground staff were applying the finishing touches to the pitch, which is on the extreme western side of the vast centre-wicket block.

The International Cricket Council says the short boundary for the Pakistan game, which is not an official one-day international to allow both sides to play more than 11 players and maximise game time ahead of the tournament, will be just 42 metres long.

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The boundary towards the Eric Hollies Stand on the eastern side will be significantly longer, but the boundary rope on that side has been brought in around 20 metres from the fence in order to even up the dimensions of the ground.

The western boundary doesn't meet the ICC's minimum length requirement (59.43 metres) to constitute an official match, but the benefit of playing on a pitch so far wide of centre will be realised during the tournament itself.

Edgbaston is set to host five matches in less than a fortnight during the Champions Trophy, so the pitches closer to the centre of the ground are being preserved for those bigger matches in the coming weeks.

The 2013 Champions Trophy final here, the seventh match at the ground in just over three weeks, was played on what former England skipper Nasser Hussain recently labelled "a raging dust bowl more like Mumbai than Edgbaston".

And with the venue for this year's final, The Oval, set to host six matches in this tournament, using the extremities of the centre wicket block for the warm-up games at both venues will help to reduce deterioration in the coming weeks.

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While the results of the warm-up matches matter little, the unusual dimensions of the ground will nonetheless make for interesting viewing when big hitters like David Warner and Chris Lynn are at the crease on Monday.

Lynn was undone by the uneven boundary lengths during Australia's warm-up against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Friday; the right-hander hit a waist-high full toss from Lakshan Sandakan straight to Kusal Mendis at deep mid-wicket, a mishit that could have been worth six on a smaller venue but was nowhere near long enough when hitting towards the long boundary.

"I think I might take that option (of the short boundary)," Lynn said with a laugh during a cricket.com.au interview with teammate Glenn Maxwell on Sunday.

"I think in the last trial game I took on the long boundary and was caught about 20 (metres) in so I might be a bit wiser this time."

Given Lynn hit a ball onto the roof of The Gabba just five months ago, the vehicles in the western carpark at Edgbaston could be in danger if the Queenslander gets one anywhere near the middle of his bat on Monday.

The strategic positioning of the pitches for these warm-up matches underlines the prevailing wisdom ahead of the tournament, that wear and tear on the centre wicket at the three venues (The Oval, Edgbaston and Sophia Gardens in Cardiff) will see spin bowling play a bigger role as the tournament progresses.

"Early on in this tournament we probably expect (there) to be a little bit in the wickets (for the quicks) with the fresher wickets," Aussie paceman Mitchell Starc said on Sunday.

"Then come the back end, it might take a bit of turn and be a bit slower and lower like we saw last time in the Champions Trophy here in England.

"We're going to have to assess that as the tournament goes."

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

Squads: Every Champions Trophy squad named so far

Group A: Australia, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh.

Group B: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Schedule

Warm-up matches

26 May – Australia v Sri Lanka, The Oval

27 May – Bangladesh v Pakistan, Edgbaston

28 May – India v New Zealand, The Oval

29 May – Australia v Pakistan, Edgbaston

30 May – New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Edgbaston

30 May – Bangladesh vs India, The Oval

Tournament

1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (Day)

2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (D)

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)