Cricket Grounds

The pitch of cricket is 20 m (22 yards) between the wickets and is 3.0 m(10 feet) wide.Basically it is flat surface with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match.


The Wicket:
Wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed on a straight line and surmounted by two wooden cylinderical pieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is 720 mm (28.5 inches) and the combined width of the three stumps is 230 mm(9 inches). Aerial view of the MCG displaying the stadium, ground and pitch

The Crease:
Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the batting crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases. A wicket consists of three stumps that are hammered into the ground, and topped with two bails.

The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be 20 m (22 yards) apart. A bowling crease is 2.64 m (8 feet 8 inches) long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The Batting crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is 4 feet (1.2 m) in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least 2.4m (8 feet ).

The Bowler's Action:
When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler's front foot goes over the popping crease and the back foot goes outside the delivery stride, the umpire calls "No ball".

The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out. If the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".

Variety of Pithches:
Pitches vary in consistency, spin, and seam movement , and thus in the amount of bounce available to the bowler. Dry pitches tend to deteriorate for batting as cracks often appear, and when this happens to the spinners can play a major role. Hard pitches are usually good to bat on because of high but even bounce. Damp pitches, or pitches covered in grass (termed "green" pitches), allow good fast bowlers to extract extra bounce. Such pitches tend to offer help to fast bowlers throughout the match, but become better for batting as the game goes on.

The Bat and Ball:
The bat is usually made of White Willow (wood) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 108 mm (4.25 inches) wide and the total length of the bat must not more than 970 mm (38 inches).

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of 230 mm (9 inches). Differenet bowls are used for the different forms of the cricket. In the test cricket Red ball is used and in the ODI's white ball is used.

Fielding Positions:
The various fielding positions of the cricket grounds are depicted int the picture below.