CricketFeature

Different types of cricket ground pitches

For a game like a cricket, the condition of the pitch determines the game. So every team before the toss analyzes the pitch to determine which direction the game will be going. So there are different types of cricket ground pitches that can either help a batsman or help a bowler based on the condition. Let us see what those types in this article.

Green Pitch

These types of pitches has high covering of grasses and they look green thus the name green pitch. These types of pitches give great assistance to the pace bowlers. With the assist from the pitch pace bowlers can swing the ball perfectly and torment the batsman.

These high grasses in the pitch make the ball swing better, and better the swing it can confuse the batsman more. These type of pitches does not grip the ball and thus it is very difficult for spin bowlers to bowl when the pitch is green.

Also in order to keep the pitch green there will be more moisture in the pitch which will again be a difficult for the batsman. However there are some players who take the power and timing to knock the ball out of the park even in this green pitch.

Green pitch is more suitable for the test match. The green pitch takes long time to change and that will be very idle for the 5 day matches like test games. This gives both the teams’ equal opportunity to squander their opponents.

Flat Track Pitch

This one is a batsman friendly pitch. These types of pitches are lightly rolled to give that flat pitch. With no grass and no crack batsman can predict the bounce that comes with the bowling and blast it to the stance.

These types of batsman friendly pitches are mostly used for limited over games like ODI and T20I matches. Those high scoring matches we have seen in the cricket games have all came from a pitch like this.

Dry Pitch

As the name suggests Dry Pitch has no moisture in it. With no moisture when the ball hits the pitch they tend to crack. These cracks can be a huge boon to the bowlers who can use it deviate the ball according to their strategy.

Hence if you came to a conclusion that this Dry Pitch is again a bowler friendly pitch that can be a test set pitch that’s where we can be wrong. Because Dry Pitch is both batsman friendly and bowler friendly. With the cracks that are formed only after the ball has hit the ground the batsman have the upper hand to smash the first ball?

Also the ball comes beautifully to the bat in these type of dry pitches. So the batsman tends to love these type of pitches in which they can outsmart the bowler.

Wet Pitch

Wet Pitch is created when there was lots of humidity in the ground or when we get a huge down pour and the covers couldn’t contain the water outside. In such cases the umpires inspect the pitch and decide whether it is too wet or bearable to play.

This wet pitch is not at all good for the batsman because of the wetness in the pitch the bounce of the ball will be unpredictable. With this uneven bounces the batsman will have to face many deadly balls. Mostly umpires try not to use the wet pitch for the game to commence but under some circumstances wet pitch is used.

Before the covers were invented there was another type of pitch which has tormented the batsman. It was called sticky pitch. With more moisture the pitch will be sticky and the ball tends to stick to the pitch. This helps the spin bowlers to utilize the stickiness and produce better and deadly spins to attack the batsman.

Dusty Pitch

This is the one pitch that is specially designed for the spin bowlers. The dusty pitch will be uneven because there won’t be much rolling in the pitch. Without any rolling the pitch will be dusty and with uneven cracks that will help the spin bowlers.

When even a captain sees these type of pitches they prefer their ace spin bowlers to take the wickets early. It was in these type of pitches we can see the captains using their ace spinners in the opening spell to take that deadly opening batsman.

This strategy has worked out in many games for the captains who take this non orthodox type of strategy. Also these strategies were blown away by the batsman who plays spin much better.

Dead Pitch

As the name suggests dead pitch is not an ideal pitch for a bowler. Because for the flat surface and no moisture bowlers have to face lot of difficulties to take even a single wicket. So mostly these type of pitches are used in the limited over game were the audience can cheer for their beloved team.

However using this type of pitch for a test game will be a huge blunder and a long day in hell for the bowling team. Because the bowlers will not even get a single assistance from the pitch to take wicket.

Conclusion

With different type of pitches suited for different type of games, the tournament organizers tends to choose the most suitable pitch to give the match a justice. This cannot be said that it is followed in all games. Sometimes to give edge to the home team the most favored pitch of the home team was selected but this was not an offence in the cricket history. Likewise sometimes choosing a wrong pitch will be unavoidable due to the importance of the game. If finals are to be held in few days then the pitch which is most suited for that main game will not be used before hand. As a result other pitch which will not be suited for that game format will be used and there is nothing that can be done. Finally we have seen pitches that are being a huge assist to bowler and batsman but nothing is written in concrete in this funny game.

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