Adelaide Oval turns a fresh shade of green as curator Damian Hough prepares new turf Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough on the oval with some of the new turf. Picture Campbell Brodie. Transformed by turf, the roll out of the new Adelaide Oval surface HEAD Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough has declared the stadium's new playing surface will be ready for December 5 Ashes Test opening day. The first day of what will be a week long turf laying exercise took place at the reconstructed stadium yesterday, giving Hough and his team just over a month to ensure the Santa Ana couch sets for the Ashes. Hough described the Langhorne Creek grown turf as the "Rolls Royce" of its class and said it had been reinforced to ensure it quickly took to the reconstructed oval sub-surface. "The turf is ready to go," he said. It's 50mm thick. It's going to take seven or eight days to roll out. Rain, hail or shine the guys will keep working through it. Once it's down ... it's up to us to give it some renovations and get it right for the first game ... It's got some mesh elements, which will help with divetting, help with minimising the compaction and just speed up the ability to play on it straight away. Hough said not even a sustained heat spell could affect the turf setting because a hi-tech irrigation system had already been laid underneath it. He said the oval sub-surface, completely reconstructed over recent months, was world-class. "The five-and-a-half foot (slope) on the oval is now gone," he said. It's a flat playing field ... It's a sand-based profile (with) a gravel element in it. It's designed (to withstand) a one-in-a-hundred year rainfall event. The turf, and recently installed drop-in pitch, will get their first test from November 13-16, when SA hosts WA in a Sheffield Shield match. Hough believed the pitch was capable of maintaining Adelaide's reputation of being one of the best cricket wickets in the world come the Ashes. Everything with the measures we're putting place, with our bulk density and moisture, shows that it's very similar to what we've had. We do expect it to get better as the years go on but we're comfortable with where it's at now.