Our new square was laid 3 years ago, and we are struggling to create a pitch with a bit of pace and bounce. Up until the past week, the weather has been terrible in Ireland, but the last 10 days have been great, but it seems the square has dried out too fast and the pitches are bit crusty. Should I water the wicket then role. I'd appreciate anyones comments.
if you want pace and bounce then it's all about controlling the moisture in the profile. Ideally you use covers - sheets and roll ons - but that takes a lot of time. Keep the top moist to stop a crust forming - you can dry the top out in the last day or two.
Imo just look for consistency on a new square. To get pace and bounce on a new square you really need covers and someone at the ground during the day to manage the covers.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
Thanks Jon, The weather in Ireland this week is forecast to be good...(well good for Ireland) 26 degrees. So when you mention 'keep the top moist' would you sprinkle daily then role, then leave to dry each day. Or would you sprinkle, role, cover until the next day. Then repeat daily until Thurs / Fri?
Thanks again
1 Jun 2009 by vid
Hi Trevor, there is a lot of advice on here and on the ECB site on wicket preparation and some excellent work by Alex Vickers at Cranfield on rolling - use the search box at the top of the page.
To prepare a good wicket the strip needs to be well and truly soaked so that as much of the profile as possible is dampened - this will allow the clay platelets to move against each other. The balance is between this 'lubrication' and the amount of water/air left in the soil. Water cannot be compressed so air has to be reintroduced back in to the profile by the drying process to allow the necessary compaction to occur. The knack is to time the rolling so that the maximum amount of compaction is achieved before all the air has been squeezed out - after a bit of drying time the process is repeated. Dont be in to too much of a hurry to get the roller on at first - wait at least an hour- the first couple of passes are used by most groundsmen to flatten the surface only and generally squeezes out just a little water under the roll. Then wait a couple of hours or so and do 1/2 hours rolling then 2 x 1/2 hr sessions per day until you feel the wicket is hard enough (1 1/2 - 2 hrs min). At the final preparation a last session of nmt 1/2hr will polish the surface. If very hot the soaking element can be left to 4 days or even 3 days before the game. If you have good covers or a good sheet - this can be used to regulate the moisture loss.
I would keep the top moist by sprinkling in the morning. I cover whenever I think that it is dry too fast - which in the current weather is pretty much all the time. I've plenty of games on at the moment which means that there is plenty of evaporation to dry the top even if I keep it covered all day long. I won't 'normally' put the roll on covers on until 3 days before the game prior to that I'll use the sheets which will help keep some moisture in the track. Using sheets is a very time consuming thing though - you need to take them off every hour or so just so that the sweating can evaporate.
Once I'm happy with the consolidation then the roller won't go anywhere near the track until the morning of the match - what's the point in wasting time rolling if it's already consolidated? If the weather is good enough (as at present) then 9 times out of 10 the roller won't go anywhere near the track in the week prior to the match.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
I don't think we should forget what came out of the 4 year rolling research programme at Cranfield university regarding how soon to roll after irrigation. The following is an extract from the document:-
Summer pre-match rolling requires a maximum of 10 roller passes (two drum roller) to achieve the roller compactive potential.
With low clay soil this should be done in the period 36 to 56 hours after saturation in one or two sessions and with
the maximum roller weight for at least six of these passes. After this time the full compactive potential of the roller will not be achieved.
For the high clay soil, the drying to optimum moisture content time is more likely to be influenced by the ambient weather conditions. However the following regime
with a two drum roller is suggested:
• An initial rolling of two passes within 48 to 72 hours, preferably with the maximum roller weight but make sure that it is not too wet as there is a risk of horizontal soil movement (this depends on the initial pitch density).
• A further four roller passes per day for the next two days should be sufficient to achieve maximum potential.
• A total of 10 roller passes with at least the last six roller passes with the maximum roller weight.
• The timings of these will change according to the weather conditions however it is important not to leave rolling until the soil has dried below the optimum.
Further rolling beyond the recommended 10 roller passes is unlikely to increase pitch density and for reasons discussed previously should be only undertaken for other playability reasons.
In the current weather the amount of rolling is minimal as the ground is drying to depth rapidly, even after soaking, with evaporation rates being accellerated by the strong breezes on top of the intense sun reaching close to its zenith in near cloudless skies.
I did warn about 3 months ago that we'd be complaining it is too dry this summer when everyone was itching to get on with pre-season rolling, complaining about the wet!
Apologies to those in the North West who have had it damper than most.
I know many are still pooh poohing the Cranfield results but in my experience this year on four different squares, they are dead right.
Proud to serve grassroots cricket
2 Jun 2009 by vid
I go along with the Cranfield report as far as the physical changes and amount of rolling required however the timing I think is a little open to question, even after thorough soaking in these conditions my wicket would not roll out well if left more than 24 hours, through experimentation I found a long time ago that 3-4 spaced short sessions of rolling were better than 1 long period. My best performing wickets have been produced in very hot weather after rainfall within 3 days of the match - one of them scored a 5. So the Cranfield report and the research by Alex Vickers is essential to understanding the mechanics of rolling but there is always room for experience and practical variation.
Thanks all for your comments, which I'll pass on to our grounds team. I'll let you how the wicket perform for this weekends fixture.
4 Jun 2009 by taffy
Something for the future thought i.e winter months is deep tining!! i have carried this out on my squares in the last few years and have noticed a marked increase in how the pitches are playing! this is down to the increased root depth and breaking through any root breaks. Deep tining along wiht regular aeration has transformed the pitches characteristics. Be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on this subject??
Taffy
taffy, when you say deep tining what sort of depth are you talking about.
If you've any root breaks then that will affect the bounce characteristics of the track so it makes sense to try and get rid of the break.
You won't get hard fast bouncy tracks if you've breaks in the profile or if there's any thatch.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
5 Jun 2009 by MAVO
I beg to differ about that last comment jlawrence.I have 2 breaks in my square,with an inch and half kaloam on top and the pitches this year have a lot of bounce and good carry.Our 2nds got hit for 380 last saturday vs BWI in 45 ovs!so somehow these "breaks"aren't affecting the playability of the pitch.What i have more of is grass on top than i've ever had and spiking to 3-4 inches in winter has obviously helped too.
When was your break last checked? Yes, the remedial treatment is correct and it may have paid off by binding the layers together. Bounce and carry is improved almost everywhere here in the West (until after tomorrow's expected downpour, I suspect) going by the soon to be published pitch markings just received.
Proud to serve grassroots cricket
6 Jun 2009 by taffy
j lawrence, i use a vert-drain with no heave with 12mm tines to approx 7-8 inches depending on the condition of the square, i would initially go to about 6inches, then increase the depth on following passes. I have notcied a marked increase in rooting depth and density. Most pitches will produce some sort of bounce when they dry out, but its the even, consistent bounce is important. On the squares i have done the wickets have always been slow and low even when dry and this year all wickets have played consitently, compliments from the players they must be good wickets lol
Have to agree Phil - even I've had some bounce and carry which is pretty much unheard of at Weston. It does make a big difference having Dave Stiff wanging it down from somewhere up in the clouds though.
Mavo, if you've been spiking and have rooting through the breaks then whilst you may have some layering you'll effectively have no breaks.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
7 Jun 2009 by MAVO Last edited 7 Jun 2009
Philmort,i had a sample taken by Gordon just before christmas 2007 the top kaloam just peeled off from the Mendip layer then the mendip didn't bind with indigenous soil underneath.The spiking done since has certainly helped but i would like to go deeper in future.Also must have a soil sample taken after the season.
Good to see grounds around the area improving,so much better for the players to play on decent pitches.
some will say not to use a verti drain on a square, i have used a verti drain on our squares several times and assuming ground conditions are good, then you will have no problems, you may get some lifting but you would get this with any spiker.
Taffy - personally, i use just minimal heave with the same tines as you but as i was led to believe that a verti drain needs to have some heave set so that the tines follow the correct trajectory / path??, though of course prepared to be enlightened.
7 Jun 2009 by taffy
interesting points, i know alot of people get frightened when ever a verti-drain is mentioned for use on a cricket square due to the chances of lifting etc. I prefer to use the term deep tining/aeration purely providing air pockets for the roots to develop into. Im not sure about the tines having to have some heave on, i have never heard this before so thats interesting, i can see where your coming from though i tend to have no heave to start off with just to minimise the risk of lifting. Once a root system has developed im sure slight heave could be used. I know some people are dead against deep tining cricket squares, i am just going on what results i have achieved, the more roots that are present will ensure more even drying out of the pitch. It is useful to go slightly deeper than the normal spiker just to encourage the deeper roots.
Taffy
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