An extremely interesting piece on Cricinfo
Cut the grass? Daljit gives the dummy's guide to preparing a pitch. "You should have liberal grass - now we have stipulated a 6mm standard - when you prepare a wicket. And four inches of soil under the wicket to produce good hard pitch. First you wet it properly - don't flood it and say you have wet it but wet it three-four times a day for two or three days. Then you bring the rollers - use the light rollers for the cross roll and diagonal roll and the heavy roller for straight roll.
"The top one-and-a-half inches dries from sun and air. The below two-and-half is through transpiration (evaporation of water from plants). If we have deep root and good foliage on top, then the transpiration takes place. If that doesn't happen, the wicket below doesn't get hard. If we don't keep liberal grass on top it will affect [the hardness of the pitch]. The rolling only smoothens the wicket; it doesn't harden the surface inside.
"The cricket soil should swell when it's wet. The heavy roller just shapes the wickets, not dry it. If you understand this, you can make hard wickets. The CCI have learnt that now and have started producing fantastic wickets. The ones produced for the Ranji Plate League final last year and the three games that were played there this year [in the Ranji Trophy] were all good wickets."
The other thing that Indians grounds don't have is proper drainage blocks around the pitch. "In the long run it spoils the root of the grass and so much muck gets accumulated below that wickets go from bad to worse," Daljit says. "We got to have drainage around."
I think the BCCI can go one step further and mandate the kind of "home" pitch each of the 27 Ranji teams should have.
That way, teams can get exposed to various pitches (square turners, green tops, bouncy wickets) thus enabling players to be all round players.
Also, the BCCI should mandate a minimum ground size for each of these home grounds - I think the ICC recomended minimum is 65 yards, the BCCI should shoot for 70 yards or more.
And did I mention slow outfields? Batsmen and fielders have to work - to make runs and to prevent runs.
Also the home association must face stiff penalties ( no ODI's for 3 years will be a start) for not adhering to the BCCI guidelines.
With TV and media coverage in the mix, this will go a long way in making the domestic season more competitive than it already is.
And that can only augur well for Indian cricket.
8 comments:
The mandate pitch styles is an interesting idea, Homer. My instinct is that it's not good to have this much prescription.
On the other hand, I've always thought the best thing about the Australian grounds is their variety, so it's worth considering.
Jonathan,
The idea is to have more rounded players, both batsmen and bowlers
What has been seen happen in the Ranji Trophy is that, for the most part, curators are lazy or are swayed by team mandates on what types of wickets to prepare. So, for must win games, curators will roll out green tops or turners ( depending on the home team's strengths and the strengths of the opposition) while for all other matches, they produce roads.
By mandating curators to focus on one type of wicket only, expertise in that particular subject matter can be developed and ideas exchanged and expounded upon.
Also, the structure of the Trophy is
Elite League ( 15 teams)
Plate League (12 teams)
each league is then split into 2 groups Group A Elite League has 8 teams, Group B 7. Likewise, the Plate League Group A and B have 6 teams each.
By imposing mandates on the types of wickets each team can produce, it forces all of the teams to have depth in bowling to counter all conditions. Also the batsmen get exposed to various conditions and so are better equipped to play.
Cheers,
That particular Anonymous was me Jonathan..
Apologies.
No worries - at least you didn't post the same thing twice, like I did!
I completely agree about the effect on the players produced! I think the differences in this country are as much a strength as any other systematic factor attributed the success of the last decade or so. That is why I am quite happy to consider overriding my instinct!
(Having said that, perhaps the attraction of so many spinners to NSW is not necessarily a good thing - but it is a different story when there are only 6 states.)
Jonathan,
Yes, but as has been seen, once there is a bottleneck, the spinners are forced to ply their trade elsewhere ( and end up being better bowlers for it).
Which is why Krejza is a much better prospect compared to Hauritz :)
Cheers,
In the age of massaging home fans by winning on made to order wickets and then getting caught with pants down under foreign conditions might be a norm for most teams, but this is not a model I endorse for Indian Cricket, while this model may help improve our Team's and it's personnel records it would not be a stride forward qualitatively for Indian Cricket.
I totally resonate with writer's views on his suggestion to create a framework in which domestic teams strive to produce wickets with unique nature to them thereby creating an ecosystem where Indian Players while coming up through the ranks get an opportunity to hone their skills for all conditions and when the time eventually comes and they graduate to International level, they aren't caught like a dear in front of headlights.
Writer's views are in line with the qualitative growth that Indian Domestic System desperately needs and would also assist in the wider ambition of establishing India not only as the leader of the sport financially but also cricketwise
In the age of massaging home fans by winning on made to order wickets and then getting caught with pants down under foreign conditions might be a norm for most teams, but this is not a model I endorse for Indian Cricket, while this model may help improve our Team's and it's personnel records it would not be a stride forward qualitatively for Indian Cricket.
I totally resonate with writer's views on his suggestion to create a framework in which domestic teams strive to produce wickets with unique nature to them thereby creating an ecosystem where Indian Players while coming up through the ranks get an opportunity to hone their skills for all conditions and when the time eventually comes and they graduate to International level, they aren't caught like a dear in front of headlights.
Writer's views are in line with the qualitative growth that Indian Domestic System desperately needs and would also assist in the wider ambition of establishing India not only as the leader of the sport financially but also cricketwise
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