PLAYING CONDITIONS
A large part of Cricket comes down to not only the performance of certain individuals in the team or the amount of team preparation you put into the upcoming match or series of matches, it also comes down to the playing conditions themselves. Let me explain:
1 – Having the expectations that the weather or pitch conditions will favour you or your team is a huge mistake especially when you are traveling away from home to a different part of the world. Pitch and weather conditions play a pivotal role in how you and your team manage their overall performance on the day or days to come.
If you haven’t played away or on a variety of different pitches and in different weather patterns, the chances are that you will find it challenging to adapt to those conditions instantly. This is why you will notice that teams usually go a few weeks ahead of time to start preparing and training for those playing conditions but still, some players find it difficult to adjust fully.
2 -The Pitch or Wicket. Let’s be honest. Those of us who play in North America or in local leagues across North America, play a lot on astro turf / all weather pitches. Bounce is fairly consistent on both ends. But that comfort factor does not exist when you play Cricket on grass pitches or wickets as I prefer to call them. This is how real Cricket is played.
A lot of the current and future generations will likely not experience Test Cricket. One Day 40/50 over matches and T20 formats seems to be the focus of guaging the next upcoming talent which excites the fans and those who can smash almost every ball for a 4 or 6. Well, the bad news is that not every ball can be hit for 4 or 6 otherwise you’ll never get out.
For me, a true cricketer who progresses in their career needs to also play on grass wickets if not play Test Cricket to be a true world class player. The mental attitude, grit and determination to play on the same pitch / wicket over a 5 day period is what real and true Cricket is all about. As overs are bowled, bowlers and batsmen run up and down the pitch for hours on end. Guess what, the pitch also starts to change due to wear and tear too!
As the pitch starts to deteriorate, the bowling results start to change. It is very rare that a pitch that is played on for days can continue to give you the same level of performance consistently especially if it’s a grass based wicket with very little grass to begin with. A lot of you would’ve heard the term “a flat batting track” or “a bowler’s paradise”. It shouldn’t be too difficult to understand why those terms exist. Most often than not, if the pitch conditions are studied well ahead of time, the toss plays a huge role in deciding which team may have an advantage going into the match. Here are some examples:
Batting Pitch or Track
It will look quite light and generally beige in colour compared to the surrounding lush green grass field surrounding it. Both ends of the pitch, may be quite dry and appear hard. You may even have some minor cracks in some areas as it may be a seasoned wicket which is used year-in-year-out. However, the way the pitch is prepared also dictates the way the pitch will play especially if the cracks are well sealed. Most often than not, in a test match, the first 2-3 days, the pitch should perform evenly with consistent bounce and not offer much assistance to a fast bowler or even a spin bowler. But should those cracks start widening, grass roots start showing more, rough patches or foot holes start appearing off a good or full length in line with the stumps, this indicates the pitch may now actually have more to offer to the bowlers and less to the batsmen:
A) The Bounce of the ball can alter the natural direction or trajectory of the ball or even change the pace of the ball considerably (often slowing the ball and keeping it low at the same time). This is especially true when the balls bounces off the cracks which have widened either creating a sharp popping effect or staying incredibly low.
As you can imagine, even a slight deviation in height from the bounce can cause a batsman to struggle considerably especially if more cracks start to appear on the pitch. All of a sudden, a good batting track now has a few surprises to help the bowlers more than the batsmen so the team batting 2nd is likely to face the toughest challenge in test match conditions.
B) Pitch Deterioration especially where the fast bowlers follow through with their feet, their spikes can start to cause rough patches in areas which help the spinners. Rough patches allow a cricket ball to grip better and better grip means more turn off the pitch when the ball pitches.
C) Any moisture or overnight rain, despite covers on the pitch itself, beneath it, water is assisting the grass roots. The heavier the damp conditions become, the chances are that not only will the outfield be quicker for the ball to race away towards the boundary, the ball itself will become softer much more quickly as the bat hits the ball and the runs are scored.
As the ball softens, it grips the dryer deteriorating pitch even more slowing the pace of the ball further and bouncing slightly lower than expected after it pitches – thus giving the batsman more time to play their shots and finding the gaps on the field with relative ease. An older / softer ball is therefore less preferred by pace bowlers which is why they like to cause the maximum damage by getting as many wickets with the new / harder ball compared to a softer / wetter ball.
A softer ball is usually given to the spinners to see out hoping the pitch has something to offer them instead. This is why it becomes even more important to pitch the ball further up towards good length or target any rough patches or foot holes that spinners can take advantage of. With each over in slightly wetter conditions, the ball will soften quicker and not have the hardness required to deliver any original pace and bounce that a fast bowler typically relies upon.
D) However, in damp conditions or even just overcast cloudy conditions with hopefully some wind can cause havoc for a batsman facing a fast bowler with a new ball – you guessed it – SWING!
This is usually the best time to use SWING as your main weapon of attack. By managing the ball well with the rest of your team, you want to keep one side of the ball clean and shiny but the other side to remain dirty and rough / heavier. By doing this, the bowler can then rely on the natural aerodynamics of the ball’s path and cause all sorts of problems for the batsman without relying too much on the pitch itself.
This is why in dry conditions especially, on a harder pitch, the bowler is usually seen adding their saliva onto one side of the ball but not the other as the cleaner and smoother side will travel with less friction in the air. So the fast bowler is not only trying to capitalize with a newer, harder or perhaps even a faster pitch, but they are also hoping to add the natural swinging effect as the ball travels through the air.
By adding this 3rd dimension, with pace and bounce involved including any unpredictability based on the condition of the pitch, adding swing to the equation can make some of these deliveries simply unplayable. This usually results in quicker fall of wickets.
Bowling Track – A bowler’s paradise
Usually the pitch will be greener in colour and hard in-between the grass roots and beneath. The ball is likely to travel a lot faster on this type of pitch due to less friction when the ball bounces and in fact can give the ball extra spring or bounce, more than expected. Extra bounce in the pitch can have devastating effects especially against a pace bowler because the pitch is assisting the pace bowler even more. Now imagine some of the other conditions discussed above and adding SWING as the 3rd dimension onto a bowling track.
Can you now see how tough or perhaps how unpredictable such a wicket can become to bat on during a test match? This would be a fast bowler’s paradise and should the pitch deteriorate leaving plenty of rough patches or dust and foot holes near a good length or towards the line of the stumps, this would in turn become a spin bowler’s paradise.
CONCLUSION:
So on this topic, the playing conditions of the venue + external weather conditions can have a huge impact on the results of the match especially whether you bat 1st or 2nd if you know how to guage or read what the pitch will play like on days 2/3/4/5 and knowing what the weather will also be like based on the weather forecasts.
It does seem that at times, two evenly matched teams are at the mercy of the coin toss and the captain that wins the toss is likely to be favoured to win the match if they make the right choice initially and decide whether to bat or bowl first depending on the playing conditions they have researched together with their coaching or field experts.
This is why we love Cricket because you have to deal with not just individual or team talent, you also have to adapt and battle against some tough playing conditions too when it comes to Test Cricket in particular.