22 yards for 22 players : Know about the behavior of the cricket pitches

“Bhai run out mat karwana yaar, runs khud ban jayenge (Bro, please don’t get me run out, runs will flow on their own)”, I told Vijay bhai when we were opening the batting for our team while chasing a target of 165 in 20 overs in a local match. Vijay bhai, a fine cricketer, who runs really fast between the wickets is probably too fast for others to match. So, he ends up getting involved in at least two run outs in every match. However, most of the times he over compensates by scoring big. May be the pitch at our home ground is batting friendly. 

As the carnival of cricket in India, the IPL, is going on, let us talk about cricket this week. If you are one of those who is not interested in cricket, congratulations!!! You are one among 0.001 percent of Indian population (yup, I just made that number up). I still find it hard to believe if someone tells me he has never played cricket.

As a cricket fan of 90’s, we all have lot of sweet and sour memories of Indian cricket of the decade of 90’s. Unfortunate to say, more sour than sweet. I still have the dreadful memories when a foreign tour of Indian team was more of a tension for upcoming weeks than fun. And who does not remember that bowling spell of Alan ‘the white lightening’ Donald during India’s 96-97 tour of South Africa.

But this blog is not a memory refresher. We talk about facts and things around us. So, let us do what we do.

Let us talk about the cricket pitches. Let us talk about why Indian team was invincible in India but a draw overseas was considered an achievement. Let us talk about cricket pitches, their types and why do they behave like they do.

The 22-yard strip, on which the major part of action takes place, is result of a lot of efforts that go in the background. It is the responsibility of the pitch curator to prepare a pitch that will present a good and fair competition between the bat and the ball. Pitches in some geography traditionally assist the bowlers while some countries have pitches that are absolute batting paradises. While the former types present higher possibility of producing results in test matches, the latter ones produce lot of entertainment value in limited over cricket.

WACA at Perth, Australia, the name itself sends down chills through batmen’s spine. The bounce in the pitch is really difficult to handle and any bowler who is ready to bend his back gets good purchase from the track. This is an example of a hard track.  The sea breeze across WACA assist the swing thus making it a nightmare to bat at. Simple science, on a hard track, the ball does not grip much and thus, does not lose any significant pace after pitching.

Bowler generating bounce from a hard surface

A pitch with green grass cover, or a green top as it is referred, offers assistance to the fast bowlers to swing the ball in the air and off the pitch. There are two parts to it: swing in the air and movement off the pitch. The grass is not rolled in completely and the track is visibly green. A green pitch means more moisture in the pitch and the air near the pitch surface, thus maintaining a density difference in the air through which ball is travelling and therefore assisting the swing. The second part is the movement of the pitch. Due to presence of small grass twigs on the surface, when the ball lands on the track, the seam of the ball holds a bit while the smooth part of the ball slides through. This makes the ball move in the direction of seam of the ball and it is extremely difficult to judge the magnitude of movement. Also, the grass on the pitch provide some ‘lubrication’ effect when the ball pitches, thus ball loses very little pace after pitching. These pitches are traditionally found in England and South Africa.

a green pitch

A dry and dusty track, usually found in India and Sri Lanka, assist the spin bowling like no other. These pitches are soft and the holding clay content is less. As the moisture dries out, these pitches tend to break and lose the hold. The dryness or the dust on the track holds the ball when it pitches thus making it spin more than that on a hard surface. The surface is usually not dry and dusty at the start of the game but the exposure to sun and wear and tear due to the game makes it so as the game progresses. Remember Kachra from movie Lagaan? He was not able to turn the ball when the pitch was still not broken and the ball was new, but once the ball was old and pitch was dusty, English men could not read him at all. Kudos to Ashutosh Gowarikar and Aamir khan for the details in the movie. 

Harbhajan Singh made Aussies dance to his tunes after heroics from VVS and RD at Kolkata, 2001 (the pic is from 2010 though)

The flat track, or the tracks that are batsmen friendly are the ones which do not have grass, have decent and predictable bounce and do not break during the course of a game. These tracks are hard rolled and have enough moisture content to hold the pitch together. The grass is mowed and the remaining grass is rolled in to the pitch. Batsmen have a good time on such tracks and these are usually used for limited over cricket where heaps of runs are scored and viewers find it lot more entertaining.

A track usually does not remain same throughout a test match and offers equal opportunity to all players at different stages of the game. For example, a nicely rolled wicket will offer bounce and swing at the start of a test match, will become easier to bat on as the game progresses in to day two and three and will assists spinners on the last two days of the match, thus making it a fair contest and a treat to watch. A track that behaves unusually and creates uneven bounce or highly unpredictable seam movement, or it explodes, can be deemed unfit for play by the umpires as the contest becomes unfair and it could be dangerous for players as well.

The track may be helpful to certain type of players due to its inherent behavior but the game is ultimately a contest of skills. Like any other sport, cricket is all about skills and converting skills to performances, even more so when conditions are adverse. Wittyscribble acknowledges and appreciates the skills and efforts of all the players who give it all to bring glory to their teams and moments of pride to their fans.

And as always, thanks for reading.

Ayush!!!