The long and the short of Kardinia Park

Australia's Pat Cummins says adapting to the unique characteristics of Geelong’s Kardinia Park will be crucial to the second KFC T20 INTL against Sri Lanka on Sunday night.

The T20I double-header, which will see the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars take on New Zealand before Australia’s men look to level their series against Sri Lanka, will be the first international matches hosted by the venue.

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In order for the narrow ground (normally used for Australian Rules football) to comply with International Cricket Council guidelines, the drop-in pitch has been laid off-centre on a northeast to southwest angle.

Traditionally, the pitch at Kardinia Park has followed the goalpost-to-goalpost line, but the 115m-wide ground failed to meet ICC’s guidelines, which demand a distance of at least 137.16m boundary-to-boundary square of the wicket.

The subtle shift opens up more space square of the wicket, allowing the ground to satisfy those requirements, which also dictate that the shorter of the two square leg boundaries must be at least 59.43 metres long.

Kardinia Park’s shortest boundary is now 64m.

"It’s quite a long, straight field here, a bit similar to Bellerive Oval down in Tasmania or even Adelaide Oval," Cummins told cricket.com.au after inspecting the ground on Saturday.

"It’s got a great feel about it.

"The pitch is actually on a bit of an angle ... which means there’s a couple of short pockets in fine leg, but a couple of long ones as well.

"It’s a different with the pitch on the angle, but I think we’ll get used to it.

"It’s just about working out which parts of the ground we’ll try and get the batsmen to hit to.

"A couple of the fine legs look quite short, but there are some big, straight boundaries.

"We just have to adapt."

The Australian squad had their first look at the Kardinia Park pitch on Saturday afternoon, but their visit to Geelong was cut short when heavy rain forced the abandonment of a planned net session.

The ground has previously hosted a KFC Big Bash League warm-up fixture between the Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars and a tour game between West Indies and a Victorian XI, both in late 2015.

Two members of Australia’s T20 squad – skipper Aaron Finch and leg-spinner Adam Zampa – played in that BBL warm-up fixture, so will have some idea of how to tackle the unique Kardinia Park layout.

Finch also has a strong connection with the venue having grown up in the town of Colac, some 75kms west of Geelong, which itself is located 75kms south-west of Melbourne. Finch also plays club cricket with Geelong, whose home games are played next to the main stadium.

While Cummins said he wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the wicket, he is optimistic is will offer more pace than seen at the MCG during Friday night’s opening T20I.

"I don’t really (know what to expect) to be honest, I’ve just watched a few AFL games on TV,” Cummins said.

"It looks like a great atmosphere.

"The pitch feels really good.

"It feels rock hard and there’s plenty of grass, so I think there’ll be a bit of pace and bounce for me and Billy Stanlake."