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The pitch of perfection
IT IS not easy to define the preparation of a cricket pitch as an art or a science or even a combination of both. Factors influencing such an exercise are as varied as the judgment pronounced on pitches by captains, players, coaches, officials and above all, the curators themselves. What is certain however in this unpredictable game is the lack of uniformity.
While it is agreed that laying pitches are conditioned by the nature of the soil and manure, weather conditions, water sources and, of course, attention paid to details for maintaining the turf, there are many basic features which are essential to meet the requirements of a three-day, or Test matches, leave alone the more popular instant cricket.
The pitch became the topic of discussion, and even assumed contours of a controversy of late, when Australia and South Africa played Test matches in various centres. The observations of Sourav Ganguly over the state of the wicket at Nagpur and the outright condemnation by the Aussies about the turf at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai raised a lot of dust, literally that is, at these two venues.
Pitch preparation
There is a genuine feeling among those in charge of designing pitches for high-profile contests that their effort day and night sometimes, is often challenged, or criticised without compunction or logic after the result. They contend that the officials managing the State associations take no responsibility in preparing the pitches.
"Each association should have a curator with a good practical knowledge of preparing wickets. The secretary of the association concerned should also be made responsible," says, P. R.Viswanathan, who is associated with laying the pitches for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
Viswanathan, a medium pace bowler in his college days, hails from a family of cricketers. His father, P. S. Ramachandran, has the unique distinction of taking all 10 wickets for the Mylapore Recreation Club against the Triplicane Cricket Club in the city league, and also for sharing the new ball with M. J. Gopalan in the first Ranji Trophy match against Mysore in 1934. He talks from the plank of experience as a curator. He has a Master's Degree in Botany from Vivekanada College, and years of experience in landscaping the precincts for several corporate units in the city and outside. He is also a pitch consultant for the Andhra and the Kerala Cricket Associations and supervised the laying of turf pitches sponsored by companies in some of the city colleges.
"The wicket square must not be used for at least 45 days prior to a Test match. Five days prior to the Test, the Indian team played a four-day match at Bangalore. Wicket preparation is continuous; once there is a break it will affect the final product," Viswanathan says.
Curator's role
While emphasising the need for a certain degree of uniformity, Viswanathan believes that the zonal curator be present during the initial stages of preparation and also assess the quality of the pitch at least five days before the start of the match. "For the Mumbai match, the zonal curator inspected it once, then five days before, but his instructions are reported to have not been carried out. For Kanpur, the curator visited a day before the match."
Viswanathan feels that the Board should ensure uniformity after assessing the better wickets provided in some centres like Chennai and Nagpur. "Chepauk has consistently given a good wicket over the last 15 years. This despite the fact the ground is used for matches almost every week of the year.
Train the ground staff
"Once uniformity is achieved in construction of wickets, emphasis should be on uniform methods of preparation. This is easier said than done, since most of the ground staff believe their method is the best and changing their mindset will be tough. Having seen quite a few centres, I believe, training the ground staff must be the top priority, because even if you arrive at the right combination for the wicket, poor preparation would still give a bad wicket," Viswanathan says.
Only knowledgeable and dedicated curators could make this happen. For Ranji and other BCCI tournaments, a random visit by the zonal curator is a must, at least to test the solidity or hardness of the pitch. "A simple test for hardness is to throw a good, hard ball from a height of 12 feet and the ball should bounce to 24 to 30 inches." Viswanathan is optimistic that "we can produce bouncy wickets, which, with a bit of grass and moisture, will make them really quick. The curator should be allowed to do his job. The need of the hour is a change in the mindset of the players and officials."
S. THYAGARAJAN
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