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We may all have different ideas on how an ideal pitch should behave (depending perhaps on the bowling strengths of our side at any time) and the ideal pitch will vary according to the duration of the intended game. We need to define what we want before we can set down our procedures. For the purposes of this seminar, we define an ideal pitch as follows:

For a four or five day game

Day 1:
The pitch should be quite moist, with some green grass on the surface (not all will agree with this, as in the Australian examples which will be discussed later). A green surface will allow the ball to seam around a bit (later we will explain why greenness promotes this movement). The pitch should have consistent pace and bounce.

Days 2 & 3:
The pitch will have dried out and should become more bouncy and it should quicken up (provided it does not crack badly by becoming too dry too quickly). It will have lost its greenness and so should not seam around much. The ball should come nicely onto the bat and the pitch should now be ideal for batting.

Day 4:
The surface should start to powder and the cracks will start to open up. This will slow the pitch down. It will become less bouncy, the bounce will become more inconsistent and it will start to take spin.

[Day 5:
The above pattern will be accentuated as the pitch wears further.]

For a one day limited-overs game

The general requirement here is for a pitch which will favour the batsmen. The ideal would be to produce a pitch equivalent to that on the second or third day of a five day game (described above) but of course without the wear. This suggests that water should be withheld for one to two days longer than for a five day game to allow it to dry out for a day or two longer.

For one and two day club games

Since such games are seldom limited overs games and do not have a contrived result, the pitch here would need to have more life than that for a one day limited overs game. This could be achieved in a number of ways, such as by deliberately producing a green-top or a spinners wicket (hopefully not by having to resort to sprinkling bulli dust over the pitch to promote this). We hope to explain how such pitches can be produced later during this seminar.

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