The new WP pitches saw real action today for the first time and the verdict is good ( with one major question). My team played at WP-4 today and after batting on that wicket I can tell you that it is a super pitch for both batsmen and bowlers. The bounce is even and there is good carry. The surface looks well polished with a nice clean sheen and once the mat goes over it there are no bumps. So overall it looks very good. The soil on either sides of the pitch was very loose and so the nails were going down like a hot knife on butter ( in fact I was just pressing the nails down with my hands!). In the next few weeks, I'm sure that will slowly get harder. I think the MWCC Team that did this project has done a good job.
But, there is one slightly baffling issue. If you look at the photo above you can see that there is a 3-4 feet patch of gravel where the bowlers run in. While I assume this was intended to address the legendary run up problems where by the middle of the season bowlers have to carefully navigate a ditch created by countless bowlers landing or pressing on the same spot over and over, I'm not sure how this new gravel patch will solve the problem. On the contrary it raises some new issues.
First of all , if a player dives in that area, I guarantee you that he is toast ( Though the always athletic Giants wicket keeper Shashi Buluswar was seen putting life and limb at risk by flinging himself at the stumps in a run out attempt - but then, we are talking about normal people here!). I think the wicket keepers are going to be a bit annoyed since this impacts them more than anyone else, especially when standing up. Secondly, if the ball lands in that patch ( happens several times when fielders throw in from the deep), it soon starts to lose shape. In fact, in today's game we had to replace the ball around the 30th over.
Personally, I would have preferred the old grass strip with teams bringing soil or mulch to patch up any ditches. But, then we cannot make progress if we try to make everyone happy. I'm still curious to know why this particular choice was made.
The pitch itself is great. Here is a pat on the back to all those who made it happen. Thank You!
17 comments:
Hari, Thank you for the update on the pitches. Good job indeed. Is the rumor true that WP1 was also re-surfaced. Does that mean we now have WP1?
Thanks.
Adnan
I do believe WP-1 was also resurfaced. We dont have it at the moment though - nobody showed up to play there for most of the day today (as usual), and then at about 2pm some guys came in and seemed to be playing some sort of practice match (as seems usually to be the case). I really wish the Park District would just hand it back to us - it is the best of the grounds, IMHO.
I agree with Hari BTW - the job done on the pitches seems to be very nice indeed. We didnt get any bad bounces today at all - it played very well (WP-2 is where I was at). The outfield was awesome - one of the first few times (in non-drought years) that I can remember when actual groundshots, hugging the ground from the moment they left the bat, could go for fours. Very very low grass. Excellent job by Magnus and company there - kudos.
I also agree with Hari in re the gravel runup however - I dont like it very much myself. The gravel gets loose in a hurry - I had some bowlers of decent pace today, with energetic runups, a few pieces of gravel were getting on the pitch literally every single ball. They had to be swept away often (with branches wielded by the leg umpire etc). And a little "mini-ditch" was being dug into the gravel too, already, after only a couple of days - its getting loose. A couple of the faster bowlers were very unhappy with the new gravel runup (and expressed it quite vocally).
One idea I thought might work was offered by one such disgruntled paceman - he suggested the gravel be rolled, hard, with a heavy roller. And then covered with a piece of astroturf (or, if thats expensive, just any thin "carpet" from a store), that would be stuck over it. This would mean the gravel wouldnt get loose, might be easier on the feet, and would leave a nicely level runup for a longer period of time, hopefully. I sort of liked this idea myself - what do others think of it?
Sadiq
Adnan, Thank You! About WP-1: I did not check it up close, but it did look as if all 4 pitches at WP were re-laid. Hopefully someone from the management can address this. I would also like to know.
Sadiq,
That Astro/carpet idea sounds good actually. That loose gravel will cause twisted ankles and injured wicketkeepers (not to mention balls going outta shape), it is just a matter of time! I certainly dont fancy running in and seeing a mini gravel hill right at the jump.
Raheel.
Raheel said:
---------
That Astro/carpet idea sounds good actually. That loose gravel will cause twisted ankles and injured wicketkeepers (not to mention balls going outta shape), it is just a matter of time! I certainly dont fancy running in and seeing a mini gravel hill right at the jump.
--------
I too liked the idea - though maybe there will be some small adjustments to be made etc (for example, one would have to leave a little gap where the matting nails need to go in... and would the carpet stay stuck easily... and would they stay un-stolen at Washington Park etc :-)
BTW, maybe I didnt express myself well.. "loose gravel" is a slightly harsh way to put it :-) Its basically quite tightly packed, but it *is* gravel. There are a quite a few little stones etc. I wasnt at WP Saturday, only there the second day - and by then it had already seen one day of wear. With the faster bowlers a few bits would come loose and come onto the pitch. And by late on the second day of wear, there were slight depressions (but still quite slight, much less than old WP) in the landing area.
No real "hills" when you run in to bowl yet, Raheel :-)
Iam no expert on gravel - maybe it'll get better? I mean, it will have the sun beating down on it for a few days. Some rain too, maybe, which may help bind it a bit?
But either way, I *do* like the carpet idea (which, again, is not my idea - credit for it goes to Roopnarine of Illinois Cricket Club, who knows far more about fast bowlers' runup needs than most of us ever will :-)
Either way, we should have more reactions soon, as more teams and more pacemen play at the new WP and can tell us their opinions.
And, BTW, Hari, WP-1 *was* re-laid as well, all 4 grounds were. It would be very cool if we could get that one back.
Sadiq
Why was WP1 re-laid when we don't have it?
Adnan
The pitch on WP-1 was broken by mistake by the contractor. The management had clearly instructed to the construction company to work on WP-2,3,4, but there was some miscommunication within the construction company.
Anyway, we are not paying anything extra for the work on WP-1. The contractor has absorbed that cost.
However, we will leverage this with the folks in the city to see if we can get WP-1 back.
Its a shame that such a wonderful ground has no or little cricket being played on it.
We will be playing Muslim Gymkhana at WP-3 on Saturday. Will definitely take a look at the run-ups.
No one was there to supervise this operation? I was under the impression Mr. President was going to be there to oversee the process. If not him someone should have been present to make sure contractors are doing the right thing. Now we know the gravel mystery. I also would like to request to the management to post the expense incurred for this, on the web site.
Adnan
Do I see a bit of negative energy here? I played at WP and the pitch was good and so was the outfield. Yes the run up was a little different, but one can see that they are trying new ideas. Lets suggest ideas and help improve the league. Lets help the league and each other by being positive.
If and when you do win, you can run the league in your style. Till then, support and enjoy!!
We are loving what we have seen from the management so far.
Hari, good job !! I will start sending photos of our games.
Ram
Negative energy? I see that the crucifixion has now begun. I was only trying to find out whether gravel was laid because we were trying new ideas or was it an error in contractor's part. That is why I was also curious about WP1. And upon finding out that the concrete in Wp1 was also re-laid due to an erorr in Contractor's part, I immediately wanted to confirm whether gravel was laid under the same assumption and if so we can move to get it fixed without spending the money. Everyone is discussing ways to fix the gravel issue and whether they like it or not. No one seems to be interested in finding out why it was laid.
Adnan,
The gravel was laid because in rain the runup gets muddy and that's the reason the gravel was laid, You have played at washington park long enough to know that
tushar
You are saying that the workers had specific instructions from the management to lay the gravel at both ends of the concrete. And you know this because you were there or were told by the management? Either way thank you for sharing that information. Personally I don't believe that the contractors were told to lay gravel. I think since there was no supervision, contractors came in, ripped the pitches out including WP1 and filled the ends with gravel as a standard job. Which is OK since they are not the landscapers. Now all we need to do if there are a lot of complaints about the runup then to get someone to lay the sod in the runup area or, leave it as gravel so it won't get muddy and the poor wicket keeper would just have to live with it :) I agree with Hari and prefer a grass patch, but again as Hari said, you cannot make everyone happy.
Sorry! I hit publish by mistake. I also feel that the gravel patch is a safety hazard, because of the extra bounce and uncertainty that will be produced once the fielder throws the ball at either end. It will also be tough for the bowlers to keep a firm footing when delivering the ball because of the loose pebbles. Of course over the time these pebbles will have flown on the matting and brushed away every week, which would leave us with an area similar to baseball in field and we all know how muddy that thing gets during or after the rain. Some food for thought.
Adnan
Adnan... why the assumption that nobody from the management was there? Why the assumption that the contractors were not told to lay gravel?
I sincerely request you to not assume, but find out the details before you make your comments.
I am not against you asking questions, I am against you making assumptions.
This season, we have answered every single request that was entered using the website and we have done it within 2 days, most cases same day. So far, there have been about 100 requests and a huge number of calls.
Yes, the management was there at WP when the pitches were relaid. The contractors got there earlier than us and started the process of removing the pitches.
The runups are not completely done, but it is a work in progress. We will continue to monitor and fix them.
As you know, there is very little time between work, family and other commitments. From this very short time I have been general secretary, I am inundated with calls/requests etc. I know that its the same with Tariq and the entire management.
Please make recommendations/ask questions/point out mistakes, but do not make assumptions.
I welcome the last suggestion that you made and like I said, we will continue to work on it.
Jaggi thank you for the clarification. Based on what happened at WP1 and no clarification about whether management was there or not (until now), it would be logical to assume that there was no supervision. I think if I am understanding your comment, you are saying that gravel was the choice of management? or it is a pre-cursor to something else? From Tushar's comments (as he so authoritatively stated) I did not get the impression that this is work in progress and the gravel is here to stay. I never doubted that you are not getting inundated with calls and truly appreciate your effort in making the process better and in no way my comments were meant to discount everything you have done. I just want to make sure that we are not creating a different problem while fixing one. Hope this clears the air.
Adnan
-------------
Now all we need to do if there are a lot of complaints about the runup then to get someone to lay the sod in the runup area or, leave it as gravel so it won't get muddy and the poor wicket keeper would just have to live with it :) I agree with Hari and prefer a grass patch, but again as Hari said, you cannot make everyone happy.
----------
I think everyone would prefer a grass patch - its just a question of whether its feasible. I dont think it is feasible, myself - the surface behind the pitches has never been even (its been worn into "ditches" due to bowlers running up for years). You cant really lay sod on it now I dont think - its the middle of the season, for one, it will be brought up by bowlers within a couple of weeks.
The basic idea, IMHO, was probably to level the surface and enable bowlers to have an even surface to run in on. That was a very good idea, and the basic idea has sort of been accomplished. It just isnt perfect, is all (but there wasnt really a perfect solution out there I think - if you just lenghtened the concrete base, for example, that would be hard on the feet and would also not allow the mat to be properly nailed in, etc).
The gravel works better than the old surface - its more even, and the "ditches" are smaller and fewer than the old dirt runup. But it isnt perfect because it comes with other issues - if a ball thrown in lands on it the bounce changes and the ball is damaged; and a few pebbles get loose during the bowlers run-in etc.
I do think the best solution Ive heard so far is Roop's "carpet" one. I dont think sod would work - it would surely come up too easily, wouldnt it? But if we can level the gravel, roll it down flat, and then stick a carpet on it... it would probably even out the bounce if the ball lands on it when thrown in, it would make it a little easier on wicketkeepers, and it would also stop pebbles from coming loose. It might make things as close to perfect as we're ever likely to get at Washtington Park!
Sadiq
------------
Do I see a bit of negative energy here? I played at WP and the pitch was good and so was the outfield. Yes
------------
I do think there are some things that can be improved in re runup etc - and pointed out earlier. That shouldnt neccesarily be seen only as "negative energy" IMHO.
But I do think what was said above needs to be highlighted as well. Its early days of course - but, going by only 1 game, the newly relaid surface played very well at WP. I dont really remember a bad bounce, and the pace and bounce was just as good as it used to be at WP of old.
The other thing that must be pointed out is the outfield - kudos to Magnus for the work done in this respect the entire season so far IMHO. Of course we've been lucky too - there has been enough rain for the field to look nice and green and very pretty, but also not so much that the grass should grow out of control :-) But even so, the cutting of the grass has been done excellently well all year - the outfield was probably the best I remember at Washington Park, maybe ever! It looked green, but the grass was cut very low indeed - you could even drive all along the ground and get four, which is something I never remember before at WP (except in drought seasons). Last week Laxmi hit a well-timed push-drive back past the bowler... 6/8
years ago, IMHO, that would have died 5 yards behind the bowler in the high grass :-) Last week the long-on ran around and dived, and stopped it maybe a couple of feet from the straight boundary with a great effort! (This was at WP-2 BTW - some players thought the grass may have been lower there than at WP-3; at WP-2, at any rate, the outfield was quite excellent IMHO). Fast, bouncy
pitches, big grounds, good outfields - IMHO thats the recipe for the best type of cricket... and we are pretty close to getting that at WP now.
Sadiq
Sadiq
Post a Comment