The Ray Hunt recipe for fixing our pitches

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 26

The Ray Hunt recipe for fixing our pitches

New. Zealand has won new stature in international cricket in the last few years. There is an obvious problem, however,, in finding the players to replace the present top group, and in maintaining a continuity of capable cricketers.

Just about everyone interested in the game agrees that one of the vital needs is good pitches. One who has done more than . theorise about this aspect of New Zealand cricket is Ray Hunt, a former Otago and Canterbury representative, and at present convener of Otago selectors and the Otago cricket manager. "Far more of the money now going into other things, such as bringing out professionals, should go into pitch preparation and research,” said Mr Hunt “The M.C.C. set up a committee under a Dr Stewart It investigated all the county pitches and some in the West Indies. It found that pace and bounce depend on the proportion of clay in the soil. Too little and there is a low, slow pitch. Too much, and the pitch crumbles; grass will not grow. The desirable amount of clay is 40 to 60 per cent. “The committee devised a

test anyone can carry out to judge the pace and bounce which would be given by a soil proposed for use. You puddle the soil into a sphere 1.85 cm diameter. It is left in a normal atmosphere for' five days, in the sun and wind. Then it is crushed, to find what pressure it needs to break it. The implement the doctor used was a Procter’s Needle, and it looks rather like a bicycle pump. “We did a lot of testing at the Otago University, using a tensilometer to measure the breaking strain. Dr Stewart said the breaking strain would be 120-1601bs. Anything above that will give a fast pitch, and over 2001 b a very fast wicket. “None, of the soils around Dunedin and hitherto used at Carisbrook gave anything better than 901 b. The clay content was 20 to 30 per cent

“We knew there was a soil south of Oamaru known as Kakanui ‘tar.’ It is called tar because it becomes stickv when it is wet. The soil comes from a very rich tomato-growing area. There have always been good pitches in Oamaru, because they have been made from

the Kakanui ‘tar.’

“About three years ago, this soil was used to re-lay the pitch at Molyneaux Park in Alexandra. The soil has a clay content of more than 70 per cent; therefore it should be very fast as a cricket pitch. But because it is a Montmorillinite clay, which swells when wet and contracts when dry, it develops large cracks, as the pitches do at Lancaster Park. Australian pitch soils are all Montmorillinite clays, very similar to the Kakanui ‘tar’ and the Waikari soil used in Christchurch pitches for many years. The Kakanui ‘tar’ (KT) analysis, and that of the Adelaide pitch, are almost exactly the same.

“I recommended the KT for Alexandra rather apprehensively, because the Australians combined the blocks that the Monotmorillinite cracks into because their Indian dhoub couch grass has roots which run laterally. They bind the blocks, just as straw was used to make sun-dried bricks. “But the Indian dhoub will not grow in the South Island. Grasses used in the South Island have root structures that go straight down. So for

two years, the Molyneaux Park pitch cracked into blocks which could be moved. There was a consistently low bounce. A lot of runs were made, but the bounce was not as good as we had hoped. “This season however the root zone has become much stronger, and the blocks are no longer loose. There is a very good sole of grass and the pitches for major matches on the ground have provided excellent bounce and pace. “It was interesting to be at Lancaster Park. The pitch there is obviously Montmorillinite, because it has cracked into big blocks. But these blocks can be moved, and I was able to forecast, before the Otago-Canterbury game, that there would be high bounce if the ball pitched on an immoveable block or on the edge between an immoveable block and a moveable one. But if it pitched on a moveable block, its bounce would be relatively low. This was precisely how the pitch played. “Nevertheless, I think that when the root growth becomes strong enough to hold the blocks, and when a grass.

which has a lateral root system to do the binding, can be found to grow in the South Island, then the Heathcote loam being used at Lancaster Park will produce a high-class, fast pitch. “We now know what kind of soils to look for, but we have to find the right grasses for our conditions. The rye cultivars now used are not really suitable for Montmorillinite clays. The Turf Culture Institute at Palmerston North had some representatives at Dunedin last year, to discuss grasses, said Mr Hunt. He had been told that a position was available at the institute for soil research.

“It is plain to me that this is the kind of thing the New Zealand Cricket Council should be putting more into,” said Mr Hunt. “We should be insuring that the research is done.

“We have had ' regular complaints from overseas teams that our pitches are too slow. No-one would deny that the pitches primary school boys have are not suitable for stroke-making confidence. “The same could be said of club pitches and even those at first-class level. The pitch

for the Shell Trophy match at Tauranga, between Otago and Northern Districts, was definitely sub-standard. It was slow, and a dust bowl.

“Our batsmen are almost obliged to play as much cricket as possible in England and Australia to develop confidence and competence in stroke play.

"It is not untrue to say that when they come back to play in New Zealand, even at first-class level, they are not interested..

“Ideally, our pitches should be fast and true. Then our bowlers would have to work harder than at present. It is not hard to work out why Australian bowlers over a long period tend to be either genuinely fast, of the fingerwrist spin type, because ordinary medium pace does not succeed on their true, fast pitches. “In this country it is often too easy for bowlers to get wickets, and they get into first-class cricket without the necessary competence in line and length. In rugby, veryfew wear the silver fern without a refining nursery of representative play. “Groundsmen are handicapped. Their major problem is to prepare a pitch on a

ground which has been used for rugby. In the South Island, frosts often make the wicket block very muddy, and the grass roots are fre-

quently torn out, leaving bare patches when the area dries. “One of the best ways for the N.Z.C.C. to spend money

would be in subsidising light and practicable covers to be used in winter so that the wicket blocks can be kept dry. ”