What is a good pitch for cricket?

[sd92]

2020 is good as long as its used in moderation. E.g at the start or the end of series, as a bit of entertainment for the viewing public.

 

[Simbazz]

At the end of series, i mean, its a present to watching, usually 25 long hard days of England heartbrake!

 

[Deleted member 11215]

First my views on One Day cricket are that it is a load of crap and needs a serious looking at by the icc to make it 'watchable'.

To Improve it id love to see pitches that offer alot for the bowler but if a batsman gets in he can get alot of runs. Evenish bounce with the occational ball getting extra bounce and hopping up at the batsman and the occational low bouncer. It needs to offer something for a genuine spinner who is trying to spin the ball but it should sit up a bit for those 'spinners' who just toss the ball up, try not to spin it and just use up overs. It should also offer swing at the start of the innings and movement off the seam. Not really pitch related but id like to see reverse swing towards the end of the innings. Maybe the last 6 overs. Id like to see a pitch where 220 is the par score and anything above 250 can be classed as a major achievement. So basically bowler friendly but if you get in runs will come . Also medium sized boundarys.

 

[angryangy]

I think a good limited overs pitch has good carry, good lateral movement (to coin Shane Warne's phrase "if it seams, it spins"), but little variable bounce. Variable bounce chokes a game right up (and to be honest isn't really a sign that the bowler is out-thinking the batsman, unless he has figured out what part of the pitch is changing the bounce), however lateral movement and good carry can benefit either side. The batsman might miss it enough to get out, or he might get enough on the ball and score a few runs. The key is that you want both teams playing positive, but that's not always cohesive; the sides react to each other and the team playing attacking might force the other into its shell.

The way I see, you have to create a situation where because both sides will see the positive. If the batsman gets a streaky four over the slips, the fielding side thinks there's enough in the pitch to get batsmen out, while the batsman thinks he might get away with a few bad shots here and there.

 

[Sureshot]

I think Old Trafford produces the best Test pitches in England, best ODI pitches? Don't know, something where there is a bit of spin in the middle overs, some swing early on, quick outfield.

 

[manee]

Here is a relevant article saying that the test pitches in the England/India series were perfect for test cricket.

Good teams, good pitches, good cricket

Ian Chappell

August 19, 2007

The entertaining and competitive Test series between India and England provided much good cricket and plenty of food for thought. In addition to two evenly matched teams, good pitches and the swinging ball played their part in providing entertaining cricket.

There has been a tendency to produce flat pitches in limited-overs cricket and this may well have spilled over into the Test arena. However, the three English groundsmen for this series provided ample proof that a good cricket wicket, which allows the bowlers to compete on even terms, is the best ingredient for an entertaining match.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/extracover/content/current/story/307398.html

I have to agree that the pitches were very good for test cricket as each game was close and went to the fifth day. I also pose the question: Do we need better or worse pitches depending on the batting ability of the teams. These pitches were extremely tough and only worked because the two sides both have extremely good batting line ups, in a Bangladesh Vs West Indies match, will the pitches need to be a bit flatter?