Cricket Pitches
Cricket pitches are mainly natural grass with infrequent replacement of the playing surface. Cricket pitches are unusual in that they have to last for up to 5 days of play and the way that the pitch will change over time is an essential part of the sport. The English cricket board has published a definitive paper on pitch properties and performance. The properties of an ideal cricket pitch have been identified as
- Bounce, technically measured as the vertical rebound height of a ball dropped from 3 metres.
- Pace, the degree to which a ball is slowed on hitting the pitch.
- Consistency. Consistency of bounce is reported to be the most valued characteristic of a good pitch.
- Turn. This refers to the ability of the ball to turn away from the line of trajectory. A thin grass covering has been calculated to have up to 30% less friction on a bouncing ball. However it is believed that the most significant contribution to turn comes from pitch damage as the game progresses.
Research has also identified the ideal soil as having between 27% and 33% clay. Less than this will hinder binding of the grass. More than this will make for a heavy pitch which takes longer to dry out and is more difficult to handle. There should be between 3% and 8% of organic matter in the soil.Above 8% there will be problems with water retention and soil strength.
Cricket pitches are often viewed as a long term investment. A poor year of maintenance can influence the performance of the pitch many years later.
Cricket pitches occasionally use under soil drainage.
Read more about this topic: Turf Management
Famous quotes containing the word cricket:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)