Principles and practice of pitch preparation

Produced under the auspices of the United Cricket Board of South Africa
Prepared by NM Tainton, JR Klug, D Edmondson & RK Campbell (University of Natal) and P W van.
Deventer & M J de Beer (Potchefstroom University).
It is a fundamental principle that you cannot play good cricket on poor wickets. The United Cricket Board of South Africa has decided that it should play a leading role in upgrading the knowledge available to groundsmen for the preparation of turf wickets throughout South Africa.To this end it has been most fortunate to secure the services of a team comprising members from the Universities of Natal and Potchefstroom to help it with this substantial and Important task.
The publication of this book on the preparation and construction of turf pitches is a very welcome step in the process and the United Cricket Board is most grateful for the high quality work and energy that these universities have put into both the preparation of this book and the assistance that they have given those groundsmen responsible for preparing cricket pitches in South Africa.e want this book to be regarded as a living document so that future editions will incorporate the increased experience and knowledge currently being generated, as well as the results of the research programme to which the United Cricket Board has committed itself.We are very grateful to Professor Neil Tainton and his team from Natal University, and Piet van Deventer of Potchefstroom University for their great efforts in making this publication possible.

R C WHITE
Vice President: United Cricket Board of South Africa 

Contents 

1. INTRODUCTION

2. WHAT DO WE SEE AS BEING A GOOD PITCH?
          For a four or five day game
          For a one day limited-overs game
          For one and two day club games
3. FACTORS DETERMINING PITCH PERFORMANCE
          (i) The bulli
          (ii) Pitch preparation - what to aim at
          (iii) The type of turf to use
          (iv) Cracking
          (v) Powdering and crumbling
          (vi) Do pitches deteriorate with age
4. GENERAL MANAGEMENT FACTORS
          (i) Overcoming layering
          (ii) Drainage
          (iii) Topdressing
          (iv) Incursion of grass from the outfield
          (vi) Maintenance of footholes
5. FERTILISING

6. PESTS, DISEASE AND WEED PROBLEMS
7. THE USE OF HESSIAN OR BIDUM
8. TESTING PROCEDURES
          (i) Physical tests on bulli
          (ii) Motty or Adams/Stewart Soil Binding test (ASSB)
          (iii) Chemical tests on bulli
          (iv) Chemical tests on irrigation water
          (v) Sampling procedures.
          (vi) Testing pitch performance
9. PITCH CONSTRUCTION
10. OTHER EXAMPLES OF PITCH PROFILES
11. RELAYING A PITC 

12. WINTER OPERATIONS
13. PITCH PREPARATION
Hints which may assist in choosing the right techniques Personal Guidelines.

REFERENCES
ADDRESSES

ABBREVIATED CONSTRUCTION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCHOOL AND CLUB CRICKET PITCHES

1. INTRODUCTION
A recent survey undertaken by the above team has shown that the quality of Provincial
pitches varies considerably. Their pace, after preparation for four day matches, varied from
medium to very slow, their bounce from medium to low and their consistency from reasonably
consistent to very inconsistent. The same pattern is likely to be found among club and
school pitches.
To overcome this problem the UCB has decided to put a help-line in place to assist
groundsmen with their problems. Two teams (one at Potchefstroom University for the inland
pitches and one at Natal University, Pietermaritzburg, for the coastal pitches, have been
nominated to do this). It is hoped that these two teams will be able to assist in the
following ways:

    * Give a series of seminars to groundsmen;
    * Visit each of the Provincial groundsmen for discussions on any problems they may have;
    * Search for a source of good quality bulli for each of the Provinces; and
    * Provide the Provincial groundsmen with the necessary equipment to measure the bounce

and pace of their pitches and to correctly sample their pitches for any laboratory tests which they would like undertaken. Clubs might be able to negotiate with the Provincial groundsmen for the use of this testing equipment.Any groundsmen would be free to contact either of the teams for advice, but any costs associated with any such action (beyond those listed above) would need to be borne by the
Province or the clubs involved. Addresses are given at the back of this document.It needs to be said at the start that, in pitch preparation, there may be any number of ways =of reaching a particular goal. All groundsmen are likely to have developed their own particular procedures with which they may be entirely satisfied. Indeed, if the testing procedures which will be referred to later in this document show that they are consistently producing pitches which meet their particular goals, then there is presumably no need for them to change the procedures they are using. What we intend to do in this seminar, however, is to stimulate discussion among the groundsmen and to encourage groundsmen to think about what they are doing by providing them with the basic principles governing pitch behaviour.
An understanding of the principles behind a good pitch will, we are sure, add a great deal
of job satisfaction to the task of preparing a good cricket wicket. We hope you all find the
seminar helpful and, above all, stimulating and we hope that you will all involve yourselves
fully in our discussions.

2. WHAT DO WE SEE AS BEING A GOOD PITCH?
We may all have different ideas on how an ideal pitch should behave (depending perhaps on
the bowling strengths of our side at any time) and the ideal pitch will vary according to
the duration of the intended game. We need to define what we want before we can set down our
procedures. For the purposes of this seminar, we define an ideal pitch as follows:
For a four or five day game
Day 1:    The pitch should be quite moist, with some green grass on the surface (not all will
agree with this, as in the Australian examples which will be discussed later). A green
surface will allow the ball to seam around a bit (later we will explain why greenness
promotes this movement). The pitch should have consistent pace and bounce.
Days 2 & 3:    The pitch will have dried out and should become more bouncy and it should quicken up
(provided it does not crack badly by becoming too dry too quickly). It will have lost its
greenness and so should not seam around much. The ball should come nicely onto the bat and
the pitch should now be ideal for batting.
Day 4:    The surface should start to powder and the cracks will start to open up. This will slow
the pitch down. It will become less bouncy, the bounce will become more inconsistent and it
will start to take spin.
[Day 5:    The above pattern will be accentuated as the pitch wears further.]
For a one day limited-overs game
The general requirement here is for a pitch which will favour the batsmen. The ideal would
be to produce a pitch equivalent to that on the second or third day of a five day game
(described above) but of course without the wear. This suggests that water should be
withheld for one to two days longer than for a five day game to allow it to dry out for a
day or two longer.For one and two day club games.Since such games are seldom limited overs games and do not have a contrived result, the pitch here would need to have more life than that for a one day limited overs game. This could be achieved in a number of ways, such as by deliberately producing a green-top or a spinners wicket (hopefully not by having to resort to sprinkling bulli dust over the pitch
to promote this). We hope to explain how such pitches can be produced later during this
seminar.

3. FACTORS DETERMINING PITCH PERFORMANCE

There are four main elements to a good pitch:
(i) the nature of the bulli;
(ii) the way in which the pitch is prepared;
(iii) the way the water content of the bulli is controlled; and
(iii) the type of turf used.
(i) The bulli
(a) bulli composition
The nature of the bulli determines the maximum pace and bounce that can be achieved. The
South African and Australian pattern is to use bulli with strong swell/shrink characteristics i.e. bulli which swells when it is wetted and shrinks when it dries, and which is able to provide a pacey bouncy pitch. This characteristic is brought about by a high content of what is known as 2:1 swelling clays. These clay soils have a high binding strength (which is closely correlated with bounce and pace - the greater the binding strength the greater the pace and the higher the bounce). Organic matter in the bulli will have a dampening effect of both pace and bounce.Alternatively, a high sand content in the bulli will help to provide grip to the ball when it comes into contact with the pitch. This will slow the pace of the ball but will allow for greater turn.Published reports suggest that ideal bulli should comprise the following fractions:

Clay:

50 - 60%  (Note that English and New Zealand pitches have much lower levels than this - down to 30%).

Calcium carbonate: 

  < 5% (this is often found as whitish nodules in our  heavy clay soils, so avoid such soils). No visible
 reaction should take place when hydrochloric acid 10% dilution) is added to dry soil.

Sodium:

< 5% (sodium levels are, unfortunately, rather high in the coastal pitches but there is nothing much that can be done about it except to make sure the problem is not accentuated by using bulli with a high sodium content, or regularly watering during the heat of the day when evaporation rates are high) Linear shrinkage: 0.08 to 0.15 (the higher this is the more the pitch will crack) Organic matter: < 5% (organic matter in the soil reduces binding strength and so reduces pace and bounce).

If the clay content of the bulli is too high, cracking becomes a major problem. Cracking is
not only dependent on the clay content but also to a large extent on the type of clay
mineral dominant in the bulli. It seems also that cracks can become permanent in that they
may not close up even on watering if a thick stone drainage layer exists under the bulli.
This complicates pitch preparation and it is probably impossible to consistently produce a
good pitch with such bulli. Note also that clay percentages can be lower than the above for
club and school pitches which do not need to last for four to five days of continuous play.
The bulli should contain no gypsum or any other salts, since this promotes crumbling. Finely
divided limestone in the bulli will also cause crumbling, as will a high salinity.

(b) bulli depth
Recommendations for the depth of bulli required are that it should be sufficiently deep to
create a hard bound surface but not so deep that drying becomes difficult. Recommended
depths range from as little as 70 mm to 150 and even 300 mm. The longer the pitch has to
last, the deeper must the bulli be and for Provincial pitches we suggest that it should not
be less than about 150 mm. One means of reducing the amount of bulli used during
construction is to increasingly dilute the bulli with sand with increasing depth down the
profile, but the upper 100 mm or so should always comprise pure bulli.