Message Board - Cricket: How do i whiten my track?
28 May 2009 by James Horrocks Last edited 28 May 2009
Guys,
we`ve got our second home game of the season this sat, our first was 4 weeks ago. i`m re-using the same track. only thing is, for the first game it was a lovely (looking) white track and now its very green even though its probably harder now than it was then??? i`ve kept topping it off at 6mm and even tried "dry rolling" thismorning to try and whiten things up. tomorrow lunch time i`ll shave to 4mm and dry roll again...... i know some of you will say it matters how it plays, not what it looks like but its a big match against local rivals who in the past have slated our tracks. with this being my first season in charge i want to send them home with a better impression of our pitch!!!
by the way, i`ve had the flat sheets down for the last 2 days on and off to keep the rain off....... would this have a bearing on things??????
cheers, James.
28 May 2009 by Anthony Asquith Last edited 28 May 2009
Hi James
Once the grass has regenerated from preperation and play It Is very difficult to get the wicket as white as the first time around but this Is what I do to get the shine up.
What I do Is I use a greens Iron (Like the Golf guys use Instead of mowing) and use It as a light roll at high speed to brown off and get the shine up. Once the pitch Is just about ready I spend a day or so just wetting the leaf and rolling straight after using the above method to bruise and squeeze the leaf onto/Into the surface. I have also sprayed the wicket with something which works well as does leaving a bit of greeness and grass In the pitch untill a couple of days out from the game before chopping the grass down (Not too much though but just enough to turn the wicket white) also the direction In the way I mow can also make the pitch more white. You can also just spend an hour or so on the morning of the game with a light hand roller, just working your way up and down the pitch.
Thanks
AA
28 May 2009 by zoid
Nothing greens the grass up better than a couple of days under flat sheets James.
28 May 2009 by wicketdevil
I agree with zoid, if you brush the grass before you mow it will help but as said before it won't whiten as much as when first cut. I wouldn't dry roll too often maybe only do it on the day of the match.
Can you just is the longest sentence in the world !!!!!!!
28 May 2009 by Neil Dixon
If you continue to cut at wickt height, you will find the grass will condition itself to being cut at that hoc
I would be inclined to only cut down to wicket height a day or 2 before the game, i have found that even in the space of a week, a wicket will green up, despite it being in use every day.
We will use 1 pitch on a saturday, then train on it all week, by the following Friday it is considerably greener than the week before, despite not much water being applied and it being prepped every day for practice.
28 May 2009 by jontaylor
James,
It's too late now, but next time let the grass grow between uses. As others have said, when kept short the grass aclimatises to the short length and produces green shoots closer to the ground. Letting it grow will give you a couple of weeks of white.
Even that doesn't work for more than a week or so though. I have a track that, due to weather, has played three games in a month and even though left to regrow between each prep (three weekends in a row) it's now as green O'Driscoll's shirt. Light rolling after cutting would help bleach it, but it'll not be white again until next season.
The ciderman rolls
28 May 2009 by barry glynn
Guys, hasnt the sun or lack of it , an effect? And as someone said, having a sheet on for 2 days will green anything up.
What do I do? I just cut the grass.
29 May 2009 by vid
James I think you already have the right idea, it is not how it looks that matters but how it plays. Ideally a white wicket looks the best but it is not necessarily less green!! During the first cut of the season you are cutting in to the dead white leaves at the base of the grass stem, rolling brushing and mowing will keep any regrowth completely at bay maintaining the whiteness. Once the plant is allowed to recover the new grass grows out from this reduced stem and there will be very little dead white matter at the base of the plant for quite some time, so a pitch that is rested for a short time and then is brought back in to play will appear green even though the playing characteristics will be next to identical.
Personally before the season starts I have verticut the square several times and reduced the height of cut to 11mm, this means that the strip when prepared is greenish at the start of my season even at the final cut height of 2-3mm when the blade is bumping along the ground. This has never cost me much in the way of points as the moisture in this greeness is negligible. If it gives a tiny bit more to the bowler I cant see that it would matter so long as the wicket remains good and true throughout play then it is completely fair for both teams.
You will always get some ignoramus complain about 'whiteness' - let the scores and comments from oppositions that win do the talking!!
29 May 2009 by OLDZIMMER
White wickets, my lot think a white wicket is a must, if its green the tell me the seam bowlers have the upper hand, As Jim Royle would say MY A**E.
If i tell them it how it plays not how it looks that matters, If we win, no comment, if we lose, its cause its green.
Never mind if its the spinners who get the wickets etc.
They see beutiful white wickets on the telly and think it happens by magic!!.
If i get told one more time wicket looks green, i swear i will emulsion the track in white, and see their reaction LOL.
By the way we have won 5 out of 6 at home and still they complain!!
29 May 2009 by barry glynn
Before I did this job, I knew a little bit as I had worked for a contractor and helped other groundsman but I never, ever claimed to know how a wicket was going to play. This is because after playing the game for a long while, I have often been amazed at how some tracks play.
The "experts" on Sky make me scream with laughter, all ex test playes but they know jack about wicker preparation and I bet wouldnt even know how to start up a mower let alone use one.
If your club captain is a batsman, he will want a white wicket because they think any tinge of green will make it seam and be difficlut to bat on, if hes a bowler......
When I started doing this full time, an experienced groundsman told me to never expect praise even if you produce 95% belting wickets, only expect the opposite and statements like "why is the wicket green and soft?" when the ground hasnt seen the sun for 2 weeks and you ve had 5 inhces of rain in a week.
What do I do? I just cut the grass.
29 May 2009 by trubs
My Wickets often have a good tinge of green, mainly to protect them a little as I have a lot of games on a smallish Square. Last week was a good example, before a Premier League match there were a few comments of "bit green isn't it?".
550 runs and a last over finish later, nobody could remember what colour the Track was.
29 May 2009 by roon
I bet they couldn't remember the bloody great trench they dug either.
Do batsmen think they have missed out on something by not enduring the First World War?
30 May 2009 by Minormorris64 Last edited 30 May 2009
Last week the opposition turned up, said 'the track looks great', then when they were 60 odd for 1 still happy, then rolled over for just over a ton and the track then became 'treacherous' 'difficult to score on' etc etc 
Obviously it wasn't the best track I've ever produced , maybe something to do with the 2 inches of rain in the previous 10 days and being unable to get on the square until the Thursday before the game.
So I concluded that the pitch must have had some sort of religous conversion after about 20 overs.
Oh yes and of course when we capitulated thanks to some interesting interpretation of the rule book and rubbish shot selection, they won 
What goes around, comes around
30 May 2009 by Four Oaks Last edited 30 May 2009
Hear, hear to Roon. One of my 'clients' has a penchant for taking guard, or whatever they call it by gouging a trench diagonally from 'centre' towards the off stump. Very artistic!!
Presentation is the name of the game.
30 May 2009 by barry glynn
I had some pr*t last week who made a huge channel with his foot on his mark then mover 18 inches towards the off stump and made another huge mark!
As for the bowlers who even when given a white plastic marker, still gouge a great chunk out of the outfield!
What do I do? I just cut the grass.
30 May 2009 by Sumomosr Last edited 30 May 2009
White?
I thought "straw-coloured" was the desirable hue.
(Pitch colour that is - not plastic markers).
GOGGA
31 May 2009 by James Horrocks
Once agian, thanks for all the input chaps!!!
Saturday has been and gone and the opposition knocked 194 from 40 overs, in responce we managed a pathetic 104 all out. personally very happy with how it played and with the opposition captain (also their groundsman) who commented on our square never looking so good!
managed to whiten it up conciderably with about an hours worth of brisk light rolling the morning of the game, great tip i`ll most definately be using again. hardly any wear too. it was too hard, even for their no 4 batsman who insisted in trying to snap his bat on the ground before evey ball...... why???????
Thanks again, James!
9 Jun 2009 by Chris Thornton
A new "mark" on me pitch,or off it if you like! Played a team from a different league on Sunday and the 'keeper had gouged a deep mark back from the off stump. It was/is about 18 inch long then fans out to a 6 inch triangle at the end about 2 inch deep!!
Are there any 'keeper/groundsmen out there who can explain this phenomenon?
Meanwhile, as I type, an under 15 district game has been booked. How long is t'pitch for u 15. We've got 11s 13s and 16s but no u15s here.
Chris
"He not busy being born is busy dying"
9 Jun 2009 by overstone
Full length
9 Jun 2009 by MAVO
Chris,
I keep wicket for our 1s and do the ground too.
It really annoys me when keepers,batsmen and bowlers do these "gouges"everywhere!,a lot of them totally uncalled for.
Not sure about that one you mentioned,suppose he had a reason for it?,But surely you are looking at the ball not at the floor??
I recall a few years ago stood up to the wicket and the opposing captain took his guard on middle and "gouged"a line from crease all the way to the edge of 5 foot marks!!
He proceeded to do this after every ball!!after a couple of overs of this i said "what the F*** are you doing?i've spent 2 weeks prepping this pitch only to be ruined by you"!
he muttered something back,so when he missed a straight one soon after i was very pleased!
10 Jun 2009 by wicketdevil
The length of pitches only reduce at the u13 level so u15 is 22 yrds. WD
Can you just is the longest sentence in the world !!!!!!!
10 Jun 2009 by jontaylor
Visiting keeper recently scratched lines back from leg and off stump to a distance of about 1 foot, then parallel to popping crease to about 5 feet wide. He did this repeatedly and has made a right mess on what was a first use track.
Mind you, he was their Aussie pro and a poor keeper so I guess the lines could be put there to remind him which way to face and where to put his feet (though in his 2 visits to our ground this year he's scored 138* and 110 so the kid can bat!).
The ciderman rolls
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