Identification of local soils for development of cricket pitches

Abstract

Most of the Cricket batsmen in Indian subcontinent face a great difficulty in batting against fast bowlers on English and Australian fast and bouncy wickets. The lack of having fast and bouncy pitches in Indian subcontinent has led to this problem. It had been discovered that the pace and bounce of a cricket pitch is governed by clay content, clay mineralogy and grass content of the cricket pitch. Local pitches were found to have high silt content, low clay content and low plasticity due to a difference in clay mineralogy. In this research “Grumusol” clay was discovered in Murunkan with a comparatively high clay content which is fulfilling most of the required clay properties of a fast and bouncy wicket. Typical Sri Lankan clay sample used to prepare wickets, Clay sample from Bangalore and the local “Grumusol” sample from Murunkan were tested for the clay properties. Results showed that “Grumusol” is most suitable for constructing a fast and bouncy wicket. Other than the clay as the basic material grass plays a vital role in binding the basic material together and maintaining the required moisture levels in the wicket preventing the wicket from fracturing during the game period. Here, Crouch grass was selected as the most suitable type of grass to achieve the desired output of the fast and bouncy wicket.