How to Dry out a Cricket Pitch is a blog that looks into the two major ways a cricket pitch is dried out and some other more minor elements and tricks at the grounds persons disposal.
Why does a cricket pitch need to be dry?
In most situations seam movement off the ball is not desirable at a higher level of cricket and the main contributing factor to seam movement is a small amount of moisture present within the soil profile, whether that is in the top or just below if it can play a negative important factor. When the ball meets this moist area, the ball indents the soil and the ball can deviate negatively for a batsman, but a dream for the bowler.
Swing is something which is created by the environment, cloud cover and maybe moisture in the air and is something outside the control of a person on the ground’s person.
Two Main Ways a Cricket Pitch Dries?
· Surface Evaporation, heat of the sun or and the air temperature add in a gentle wind you have perfect drying weather. This can dry off the top quite quickly, but will take time to draw moisture out to a depth.
· Plant transpiration, is a much more of a process its basically the action of the roots drawing moisture out of the soil and up through the grass plant and is a more gradual process, the more the plant is growing the quicker this process will work but if should be thought as an action that works over days, whereas evaporation can happen over hours or quicker depending on the depth of moisture and evaporation rate in the environment.
How about this for a way of drying things out (not to be dried outside the subcontinent)
Subcontinent Techniques
Hand held blowers, can work as a last-minute action to aid surface drying, often after the pitch has gone damp late on in pitch preparation or on match day. Not unknown for counties ground staff to use in an emergency.
Helicopters, most of us have one of them handy don’t we. Personally, not quite sure on the effectiveness of this, unless just a bit of surface moisture.
Fire, an extreme heat source unused in the subcontinent and not for the UK.
Take a look at this blog with some extreme and less extreme drying processes –
https://www.crictracker.com/5-different-tools-used-for-drying-the-pitch-and-outfield-in-international-cricket/?amp=1
Drying aids, you can try in the UK
· Roling when the pitch is moist/damp brings up a small amount of moisture. This should be done when the soil is moist, not wet and is all part of the drying process over pitch preparation and can be increased later in preparation if the pitch is struggling to dry out.
· Brushing up of the grass on the pitch, after rolling, can help the surface receive more evaporation and help with plant transpiration.
· Height of cut, lower the height of cut the more exposure the pitch has to evaporation, but also the more of the lead you cut down the less transpiration you get, so reducing the hoc should be done gradually over the pitch preparation period as the soil dries out to depth.
· Density of grass cover, the thinner this is the more evaporation via the sun will be able to access the surface, but you also don’t want to thin it out too much or the pitch will not last and could become too dry too soon. A balance is needed based on your experience of your site and how you need it to play and for how long a period.
· Some test match grounds have access to heaters for early season pitch prep, which can assist.
Late but there also blotters like a CMS Blotters or a pedestrian bowcom blotter , which will not dry out the pitch, but they will take away puddles and surface water, which will assist in getting you to the next stage of drying.
How to Hold Back Drying!
Some of the bullet points above come to wind, leave the grass a bit longer, keep a thicker grass cover, reduce rolling or and do in the cooler parts of the day.
We can also hold back drying by the use of roll-on dome covers, which will provide shading to the pitch during hotter spells. We can also use sheets to hold back moisture as well as coconut matting which all will hold back a pitch from drying.
We can reduce our pitch preparation periods, if pitches are just drying out too fast.
What have l missed, what can you add based on your experience, please let us know in the comments box at the bottom of the page.
I would just like to say, we can aid the pitch drying process, but without evaporation and transpiration we can do some much! If your pitch gets wet late in preparation in early season, do what you can, but also understand you can’t force it.
I hope this blow was informative, I certainly enjoyed writing it and l hope it was a good summary of how to dry out a cricket pitch.
Brian on behalf of the TurfCareBlog Community.
