Cricket Australia has "embarked on a plan to import soil from the subcontinent that will be used to create low-bouncing, spinning tracks that will allow batsmen and bowlers to prepare at home for tours of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh." CA High Performance Manager Pat Howard said on Wednesday that "while the curators at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane had done their best in recent years to kill the grass and recreate Indian-style wickets at the academy, there was still too much bounce" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/5). ... League One side Yeovil has "reluctantly withdrawn their planning application for a supermarket on their Huish Park site." Yeovil had "hoped to build the unit on training pitches near the stadium in a bid to raise funds to convert their Copse Road End stand into an all-seater stand." The club had been in negotiations with the local council for "over three years but a club statement admitted it will not be possible for them to gain 'detailed support at council level' and they are now working on an alternative scheme" (PA, 6/4).
