Cricket pitch
Cricket pitches are usually oriented as close to the north–south direction as practical, because the low afternoon sun would be dangerous for a batter facing due west.
[9][10] The rule does not prevent the bowler or any other fielder from running on the protected area in an effort to field the ball; it applies only to the uninterrupted follow-through.
A sticky wicket – a pitch that has become wet and is subsequently drying out, often rapidly in hot sun – causes the ball to behave erratically, particularly for the slower or spin bowlers.
If the pitch is found to excessively favour one side, or if other conditions cause it to be dangerous, the match may, after agreement between the captains and the umpires, be abandoned and possibly rescheduled.
The use or non-use of covers significantly affects the way the ball comes off the pitch, making the matter potentially controversial.
In matches of more than one day's duration, if necessary, the footholes made by the bowler in his delivery stride may be returfed or covered with quick-setting fillings to make them safe and secure.
England is the hub for considerable research in the preparation of cricket pitches, with Cranfield University working with the ECB and The Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG).
Green, swing promoting and humid conditions sums up the construction of English pitches with a lot depending on the weather.
The dry and hot conditions and little dust makes the grounds ideal place to practise reverse swing with a 50-over old ball.
The bounce is mainly generated because of the hardness of the pitches caused by the hot Australian summers and adequate moisture to reduce the cracks.
However, these kinds of bouncy pitches also open up more areas for run-scoring, as they promote the playing of a lot of pull, hook and cut shots.
Australia has mostly produced a lot of legendary pace bowlers like Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn McGrath who love to bang the ball in short and have mastered the art of swing bowling, which is understood given the nature of their pitch.
Such pitches had virtually no grass, afforded little assistance for pace, bounce, or lateral air movement, but created good turn due to the widened cracks.
In decades past, legendary spin bowlers – most notably the Indian spin quartet of the 1960s and 1970s, consisting of left-armer Bedi, offspinners Prasanna and Venkataraghavan, and legspinner Chandrasekhar – routinely toyed with visiting teams to plot dramatic victories for India in home test matches, particularly on turning pitches in hot, humid conditions at Eden Gardens in Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) and Chepauk in Chennai (then known as Madras).
They outwitted opposing batsmen not only through line, length, and trajectory variations but also by physically and psychologically exploiting rough spots resulting from wear and tear on the playing top and cracks from increasing surface dryness as a game progressed.
The induction of several newer 'green top' venues (such as the ones at Mohali and at Dharamshala which have a cooler climate) provide English-like conditions, which has led to the emergence of Indian fast bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh and many more in the recent past who have mastered swing bowling and usually bowl at English-like length, which is the good length areas .
The development of domestic league cricket with international participants in the form of IPL, Ranji Trophy, ICL, have resulted in a greater variety of pitches.
South Africa is known to produce quality fast bowlers like Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Kagiso Rabada and many more.
Pitches in New Zealand, like the ones at Eden Park, Auckland and Basin Reserve, Wellington can have a green tinge similar to their counterparts in England.
New Zealand is known to produce quality fast bowlers like Danny Morrison, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Sir Richard Hadlee and many more.
Tall bowlers like Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Ian Bishop, Colin Croft, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh produced bounce and speed even on the most docile pitches.
However, some of the best batsmen have arisen from the Caribbean too, like Viv Richards, Gary Sobers, Desmond Haynes, George Headley, Clive Lloyd, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Rohan Kanhai, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara.
But due to insufficient support to spin in the Caribbean pitches, West Indies has not produced many all-time great spinners with the exception of Lance Gibbs.
However, the conditions in most grounds of Pakistan, like Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar have also seen support for the reverse swing capabilities of bowlers in past times.
Such pitches had virtually no grass, afforded little assistance for pace, bounce, or lateral air movement, but created good turn.
Conditions at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo tend to aid batsmen, with spin coming into the game in a big way in the latter stages.
Dubai Cricket Stadium offers some grass and bounce though dry conditions tend to result in the fourth and fifth days of a Test match being spin friendly.
[24][25] They were first developed by WACA curator John Maley for use in the World Series Cricket matches, set up in the 1970s by Australian businessman Kerry Packer.
[26] Along with other revolutions during the series including the white ball, floodlights, helmets, and coloured clothing, drop-in pitches were designed to also make games more interesting.
It has been found that the best soil types for drop-in pitches are not located in the same states which have been targeted by cricketing authorities – New York, California and Florida.
