That’s the opinion of Wagga City Council greenkeeper Tim Morrison ahead of this weekend’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) between Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers.

Morrison has spent hours preparing the Robertson Oval wicket and outfield as part of a partnership between Wagga City Council and Wagga Cricket Association.

And the early verdict from both teams is overwhelmingly positive. Players from both the Thunder and Strikers were impressed by Robertson Oval and the practice wickets on Friday.

Morrison expects the pitch to play well.

“She looks pretty flat, she looks pretty hard, I think with another day to go it should be pretty right.

“I think it will be good. I’ve just got a feeling it will be pretty hard and the bounce will be pretty good.

“It would take something pretty drastic to change for you not to win the toss and bat. Given that it’s always better to bat first, then chase the runs.”

Morrison said there has been plenty of time and effort go into preparing Robertson Oval for the Big Bash, particularly over the last three weeks.

“It was a three week preparation and really stepped it up in the last week, the third week in January, which was always the plan,” he said.

“But then again you can write everything down in a guide but you can’t control the weather, and you can’t control setbacks that happen out of the blue.”

Morrison said preparing a wicket for a Twenty20 is less stressful than for a four-day Shield game.

“Being the short format of the game, 40 overs maximum for the first day, I think if there was any sort of problems, it would be after 40 overs,” he said.

“One good thing about Twenty20, and having them split over two days with the same sides, is you can do a bit of work on Saturday night and Sunday morning with the 2pm start.

“There is a lot of pressure on groundsmen for a four-day format.”