Types of cricket pitches
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Many of you may be ardent followers of cricket.When you watch the game, you may suprised by the glorious uncertainites of the game.One such, perhaps common, occurence is where in a test match, a team which scored 300 plus runs in one day for a loss of few wickets may get all out for 150 on the fourth day.The same thing may happen in One Day Cricket too.A team which have scored 300 plus against a much stronger opposition would fell for 225 for a much weaker opposition(though they may go on ot win the match). Similarly a batsman who looked invincible during the first match may look completely out of sorts in the second.We may be wondering what spell may have cast on the team or the player.The real reason for these ups and downs is the nature of pitches and the ability of the batsman to adopt to the pitches.
What is a Pitch?
A Pitch is a strip of surface on which the ball is bowled and faced by the batsman. Pitch is just a combination of mud and grass. The pitch determines the movement of the ball after it is pitched, often referred to as movement of the pitch.Pitches are also referred as wickets.For more information on pitches click here.Types of Pitches
Broadly pitches may be classified into four types.- Green Tops
- Hard Tracks
- Placid Wickets
- Slow Wickets.
Green Tops
Suggested by their name, they have a tinge of live grass on their surface to assist the bowlers. So when the ball pitches on the grass it deviates off the pitch troubling the batsman.The movement may vary depending upon the speed of the bowler, the amount of grass and the where the ball is pitched. These are also called lively tracks and are the ones on which most of the early cricket is played. Nowadays only a few number of matches are played on these tracks and they are mostly found in Australia and SouthAfrica.They are a real rare sight in India, Srrlanka and Pakistan.
Bowler Tactics
This is a bowler's paradise and all that bowler has to do is to pitch the ball in right areas.By right areas , I mean the tinge of grass.Just when the ball pitches on the grass, it deviates a lot and it puts the batsman under real trouble.Pitching on the good length area makes the batsman's job more difficult. Even medium pace ordinary bowlers can take wickets here and that too of good batsman
Batsman Tactics
There is nothing a batsman could do on this pitch unless he is technically good and has a wide range of strokes. Batsman tend to hit out on these type of pitches as they knew they cannot survive here for long.But batsman with sublime class and master strokeplay can survive on these wickets.Quick bowlers should be played more on backfoot and run scoring on these pitches is an elegance to watch. Only a few good players can play long innings on these tracks and those with limited footwork, problems against the short ball and faulty technique may not prove to be a success here.
Team Performances
Australia and South Africa are real good players on these types of pitches. New Zealand and England would also give a good fight here.India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are real suspects on these tracks Even the present West Indian team can also be added to the suspect list.This is why teams like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan really struggle to put up a good performance outside their nations.
Hard Tracks
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