The effect of soil type and profile construction on the performance of cricket pitches. II. Playing quality during the first season of use

Aspects of the playing quality of fifteen cricket pitch constructions were examined, based on profiles formed from seven different soil types and a variety of base layers. Hardness, vertical ball rebound and the reduction in absolute velocity of balls fired at the surface at a velocity of 32 m.s-1 and an angle of 14° were all correlated and significant differences were recorded between the different soil profiles. In general, hardness, ball rebound and the "pace" of the surface increased with greater bulk density and decreased with organic matter content and moisture content. There was a negative relationship with total silt clay content which is believed to result from the different drying characteristics of the soils. There were significant relationships between soils for surface friction measured firstly as energy loss from a swinging pendulum and secondly in terms of the rotational friction. However, further work is required to examine how closely it relates to lateral movement of the ball resulting from spin.