Special pitches "are already being grown for the London Stadium," with the venue’s operators "now confident" of staging matches for the 2019 Cricket World Cup and the new domestic Twenty20 tournament in '20, according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. The pitches, "which are grown on trays, are being developed so that they can be dropped on to similar trays to create an instant playing surface." The practice is "often used to produce pitches for first-class cricket in New Zealand and Australia." They are being grown by Newham Council with advice from the England & Wales Cricket Board, which "wants a certain type of soil to produce a fast pitch that will generate lots of runs." English cricket execs "believe that they could fill the 55,000-capacity venue for the highly anticipated city-based T20 tournament," which starts in three years' time. The stadium would hold "almost twice the number" of the U.K.'s next biggest cricket venue, Lord's, which has 30,000 seats. There have also been suggestions that Newham Council, which helps fund the stadium, "may help Essex to play some county matches there," which would also be test events for the World Cup matches (LONDON TIMES, 5/24).