Last month Pakistan kicked up a bit of a storm when they decided to dry-roast the Rawalpindi pitch to make it spinner-friendly for the Test-series decider against England. The giant fans and patio heaters deployed caused no little sniggering, but spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali had the last laugh, sharing 19 wickets between them.
Attempts at drying the pitch over the years have ranged from the sophisticated to the downright comical. Also last month, Afghanistan's one-off Test against New Zealand was abandoned without a ball bowled despite the ground staff's best attempts at getting the pitch and outfield ready after persistent rain.
Sometimes, it's a just a matter of working with what you've got, which in the case of Guwahati in 2020 was travel hair dryers and steam irons, possibly commandeered from the players' dressing rooms.
In the past, all it has taken to mop up the outfield is an army of groundspeople armed with sponges.
And other times it's taken the actual army. Pakistan have long called on their army and air-force choppers when they need a quick spin-cycle.
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Unseasonable rains dogged England's 2004 tour of Namibia, and the first match was delayed by a wet outfield. A helicopter was called in as a desperate measure to dry out the pitch, but bits of the waterlogged outfield had to be dug out and replaced with turf from other parts of the Wanderers ground in Windhoek. And apparently the most able-bodied man for the job was Namibia captain Deon Kotze.
But you know you're really in trouble when you have to call in amphibious vehicles to negotiate the outfield.
In Hyderabad, during the 1997 Women's World Cup, they were serving up pitches fresh off the grill.
You can fight fire with water, so perhaps it will also work the other way round?
