Message Board - Cricket: Square renovations
11 Aug 2009 by Cricket Man
Hi,
First of all, I'm just a regular cricket club member in a pretty much standard cricket club.
We have a poor square because of bad management in the past. I don't know the extent of this.
The pitches play ok for the 1st match: they are not particularly quick and the ball doesn't get up much but they are relatively consistent.
But after the 1st match they go very dead with no life in them.
Last september we aerated our square.
In some parts pieces of the square started to come away.
(see picture)
It was apparent that there was a half inch layer of loam ontop of a 'deadpan'. The grass roots did not panetrate the pan. You could literally pull up pieces of the layer with ease like pieces of a jigsaw.
Q. Does anyone know what kind of action or 'inaction' could have led to the square being in such a poor state?
and
Q. How do we remedy the problem?
e.g. Dig it up, Koro etc.
All comments welcome.
Cheers.
11 Aug 2009 by Loammeister
Cricket man
Your picture shows very well the layer of loam whcih sits on top of the 'previous' soil used for your wickets. It's pretty evident that you have two incompatible layers of material that have not been incorporated (i.e. mixed together) resulting in a total break between the two layers.
'Inaction' has probably not been the cause of your problem, more like the wrong actions. To define precisely what is wrong would take a site visit with coring at stages around the square to see if this situation is typical of the entire playing surface.
Remedies can include digging up / koroing / other options, but it is not a good idea to give advice without having the square inspected up close.
Have you spoken to your groundsman yet? He may have ideas of various remedies, but may be of the opinion that funding is not readily available- it can be if the County Board is approached in the right ways. Make sure your groundsman is included in any discussions otherwise you could end up compromising his position.
If you get your club to contact the local County Board they will be able to put you in touch with the Pitch Advisor for the area, and then you will be able to get a totally independent point of view. The visit usually costs but varies from Board to Board. You can also get commercial opinions and advicem this is more likely to be free but is clearly not independent- your choice.
Where are you in the country? It will be interesting to see what progress you are able to make to sort out this pitch problem in time, good luck!
The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train
11 Aug 2009 by Mal
There are one or two reasons for this. Mainly through rolling when the conditions are wrong or at the wrong pace. It could be set up by topdressing too thickly or over a surface that hasn't been cleaned out properly or just topdress to thickly even on a well cleaned surface. These are all factors that seperately or in combination can cause this problem. You can sometimes tell if the surface hasn't been cleaned out in the past. If you take a core sample and where the root break is, look to see a dark surface on the break. This indicates organic matter that may not have been cleaned out prior to top dressing. Top dressing too thickly without integrating it with the top by spiking both at the rennovation period and throughout the resting autumn and winter period will cause the surface to layer setting up a week zone that will when rolled cause root breaks too. Rolling during pitch preperation can cause this if the rootzone was not watered sufficiently before the comencment of rolling i.e. if the top 1 to 2 inches is moist and the layer below is bone dry then as you roll you will push the moist soil creating movement over the dry soil which will not move as well (Will not be as mallable as the moist) creating a break between the wet and dry zones.
Geography is everywhere
11 Aug 2009 by Mal
Well done Dave, first on the scene. Totaly agree with Dave you do need to talk to your groundsman and keep him involved in all stages of the discussion and the discision process.
Geography is everywhere
11 Aug 2009 by jontaylor
Cricket Man,
I have seen things like this on the square I adopted 10 years ago. My own experience covers two distinctly different types of break. It is not easy to see from your picture whether your break fits into these types.
Type 1: Thatch break.
Our square was originally constructed many moons ago by willing volunteers who apparently trod cow dung into the top of the natural field and then used Nottingham Marl (amongst others) to top dress. A layer of thatch with the consistency of a coir door mat about 15mm thick built up over the years and was then burried under fresh loam. The thatch break stopped all vertical root growth and about 6 years ago we stripped the top off the affected area and started those wickets again.
Type 2: End repair break.
I get surface tearing away over old end repairs. These breaks are most frequently associated with layers of red marl which was used in the past for end repairs. Where they tear away the subsurface looks very similar to your photos. I am now convinced that these are caused by my (and others) poor practice when repairing ends. The Marl is one big factor but I also think that when heavily used the area around the front crease gets totally bear and heavily compressed. If fresh loam (even compatible loam) and seed are applied without breaking this area up I suspect you will leave a plane of weakness. I now use a hand scarifier to break up the surface before repairing the ends. Only time will tell if this is enough.
The ciderman rolls
11 Aug 2009 by Chris Boniface
hi all,
Classic photograph of a cricket pitch.
I would suggest that the picture taken is at the end of the pitch and not on the playing part of the pitch.
Like you said the pitch plays ok.
The problem is a root break, compaction prevents the root from growing deeper into the profile.
Also if the ends are high water run off will prevent sufficient water getting to the root system.
What is really important with cricket pitches is to get the topdressing to intergrate, to key to each other.
Unlike in the old days, when the topdressing was applied mainly at the ends and not keyed in.
This created the saddle ends and is still practised today.
Remedy Koro all the pitches and level the ends.
Try not to use to much topdressing on the ends for repairs.
11 Aug 2009 by jlawrence
Weirdly enough, if you actually take cores out of a square with saddles you'll often find that there isn't actually any more loam on the ends than there is in the middle. I've seen this a few times first hand.
I can only assume that the saddles are caused (perhaps not always) by rolling in slightly wrong conditions with the wrong roller and this causes the indiginous (sp?) soil to push to the ends under the loam. I can imagine this happening easily early season when the lower rootzone is still (often) very wet compared to the upper.
There are quite a few reasons why there could be a compaction pan and as Loammeister said it's next to impossible to come up with the actual reason without looking at the square in question.
The best way forward would be to get someone in to take a look.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
11 Aug 2009 by Collie
Cricketman
I'd be interested to know why your club only aerated in Sep. Once a year is not enough as I've found from personal experience. Also Sep is a little early to spike. You don't say what machine you've used or to what depth. If you have access to an aerator then you're laughing. My own experience stems from in-correct advice to spike in September when the pitch is way too hard. You'll find lumps lifting from the top surface. However over time and regular aeration in the right conditions you'll begin to see a difference. I don't start spiking till mid Oct when the ground is softer than at least four to five more times over the winter months up to about new year.
Regards
Collie
11 Aug 2009 by Grassman2011
The saddles were more likely formed JL, by past repairs being carried out using mole hills or the same indigenous soil dug from the perimeter of the ground.
The depth of loam is the same all over because they have dressed the whole square with clay loam once they started using it.
I have never heard of saddles being created by rolling, but you never know mate.
12 Aug 2009 by wicketdevil
I was asked to look at a cricket square last week where a lump about 6ft long and 2 inches high has appeared over the last few weeks. The club in question had the square relaid in the autumn and the same pitch had a similar problem before i've seen squares change over the winter but never the summer does anyone know of similar. Unfortunately i didn't get to see the ground before the work was done. WD
Can you just is the longest sentence in the world !!!!!!!
12 Aug 2009 by Grassman2011
I have had hollows appear in almost the same spot as they were before the pitches were relaid.
12 Aug 2009 by jlawrence
i have depressions which appear in the same place and it's flooded there for years apparently. Never seen a lump that reappears though.
For reappearing depressions you could be looking at a problem way way down under the ground.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
12 Aug 2009 by Mal
It seems sink holes are more common than we think its just that they tend to fill with water and we see them only as a pond or a small dip in the ground. Heres a link to a serious sink hole. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-495769/Three-dead-330ft-hole-swallows-neighbourhood.html
Geography is everywhere
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