WICKET SOILCricket pitches and their soils have specific requirements. These are much different to what isrequired on most other turf surfaces. Soils are made out of sand, silt and clay. A clay soil withgrass cover is needed to create a flat hard cricket pitch. We roll the pitch and moisture stressthe turf, all this is not in line with good turf management practices’ however this is required tomake turf pitches. Tennis courts are the only other turf surface that is managed in a similarway to cricket pitches.The soil used in Australia on cricket pitches is of high clay content, it swells when wet andshrinks when dry. These clays usually have between 50% to 70 % clay particles. Clay particlesare below 0.002 of a millimeter in size, or 2 microns.Clay may be made up of Kaolinite, Illite or Smectite. It is the Smectite clay and the mineral inthis called Montmorillonite that allows our clays to swell when wet and shrink when dry. Thisallows our wickets to be remolded. It also allows our pitches to crack and this is very importantfor turf recovery as the cracking allows oxygen down to the roots. In soils that do not crackoxygen is deficient and in pitches or turf surfaces where this occurs the turf does not recoverwell. Oxygen needs to be mechanically put back into these compacted profiles after rolling ortraffic; however this is not needed in our cracking clays as they self aerate through crackingwhen dry. The quick and easiest test to look at how much the clay cracks is a cracking patterntest. See photo below.Clay soils are required to get the pitch hard. Sand soils on the other hand do not mold togetheror aggregate into clumps or clods. They cannot produce a hard surface, however they do drainwell, they have plenty of room for roots to grow and room for oxygen in the profile so roots canhave access to oxygen. Soils need to be tested for their suitability for cricket pitches. Thesetests should be done at a suitable soil testing laboratory.Some cricket clubs in country areas have used suitable clay soils found in their area. This cansave considerable money if good clay is readily available and free. One cubic metre of crushedsoil costs about $200 and this is sometimes why clubs do not renovate after football seasondue to the cost. Some of the tests that could be undertaken are Particle size Cracking pattern Linear Shrinkage Crushing Strength A full set of tests costs approximately $350Cracking pattern test 51
Shrinkage tests above - Linear shrinkage and Core shrinkageCrushing strength balls testExample of a Clay Sieve Percent Analysis % Gravel 1 2 Very coarse sand 5 Coarse sand 4 Medium sand 3 Fine sand 4 Very fine sand 26 Silt 55 Clay 100 Total 52
BUYERS GUIDEBelow is a list of suppliers, products and services to the turf industry. This list is aimed to help you findseed, soil and other products for your cricket pitches. The companies listed do have other productsand services available and can be contacted directly for further assistance.Service CompanyPaint Lawn & TurfDrop in wickets Simplot Proline StrathayrFlag poles & Goal posts Abel SportsSafety equipment Active SafetyTurf Covers Advanced SeedLine Marking K & B Adams Green AcresIrrigation Victorian Irrigation Services Turf Care & HireChemicals Bayer Environmental ScienceWetting agents NuturfWater saving products Globe Aust.Machinery &/or Hire Globe Aust. Biogreen Oasis Turf K & B Adams Turf Greenacres Turf Culture Nuturf Anco Lilydale Instant Lawn Globe Aust. Sportsgrass Evergreen Turf Turf Care & Hire K & B Adams Turf Hume Turf & MachineryCAD Surveying & Design SportsTurf ConsultantsResearch & ProductDevelopment SportsTurf ConsultantsTanks PGG Wrightson Vic Irrigation ServicesWicket Soil Rhino Tanks Biogreen Hume Turf & MachineryTurf Systems Strathayr Evergreen TurfSoil testing Strathayr Independent Turf ServicesLaboratory services Endeavour Turf Products NuturfCar parking on grass systemsConstruction/ Renovation Strathayr HG Turf StrathayrSeed Turfcare & Hire Hume Turf & Machinery Lawn & Turf Endeavour Turf ProductsFertilser / chemicals Sportsgrass Oasis K & B AdamsInstant Turf PGG Wrightson Turf Independent Turf Services Simplot HG TURF Advanced Seed Lawn & Turf Simplot ANCO Greenacres Greenacres Oasis Heritage Seeds K&B Adams Oasis Turf HG Turf Turf Culture Greenacres ANCO Biogreen ANCO Oasis Turf Independent Turf Services Strathayr Lillydale Instant Lawn HG Turf See following page for other services and contact details 53
Anthony Campbell Ph:03 9752 4133 Turf Care & Hire Mark Bennell 0418 335 364 www.kbadamsturf.com.au 03 5248 0000 0418 550 911 www.vicirrigation.com.auwww.strathayr.com.au www.turfcare.com.au Cameron Henley Neville Treadwell Independent Turf Services Matthew Buck 0418 880 633 0413 943 450 03 9460 5171 0417 583 492 www.evergreen.com.auwww.pggwrightsonturf.com.au www.simplotproline.com.au www.independentturf.com.au Jim Marchbank Steve Cole Turf Culture Michael Holohan 0418 395 756 0432 328 731 0438 700 119www.sportsgrass.com.au www.lilydaleinstantlawn. Warren Braybon 0413 587 682 www.globeaustralia.com.au com.au www.turfculture.com.au Daniel Copsey 03 8555 0461 Rick Henley Active Safety Supplies 03 9370 6078 www.etpturf.com.au 0412 042 726 0418 108 609www.hgturf.com.au [email protected] [email protected] Graham Clifford 0418 566 102 Michael Ahearn 03 9574 9066 0408 143 911 [email protected] 0408 877 016 www.sportsturf.com.auwww.biogreen.info www.adseed.com.au Mick Green Tim Coram 0407 365 439 Ph; 03 9328 1155 0412 199 222 0418 170 285 www.greenacresturf.com.au www.abelflagpoles- [email protected] flags.com.au 03 9248 6888 www.bayeres.com.au Tim Elligate Matt Merrick 1800 631 008 0411 882 475 0413 442 811 www.nuturf.com.auwww.ancoturf.com.au www.heritageseeds.com.au RHINO TANKS FUSION HORTICULTURE FOUNTAINLINE 1800 632 410 www.rhinotanks.com.au 0408 016 331 0416 054 557www.fusionworkforce.com.au www.fountainline.com.au 54
PITCH PREPARATION ADVICE SERVICECricket Victoria, in conjunction with TurfGrass Association Australia (Victoria) offera free telephone advice service for anyone tohelp with basic pitch preparation.If you think you or your club would benefitfrom this, please contact TGAA Victoria andadvice will be forthcoming to assist you withyour enquiry.Phone: 03 9791 6900Fax: 03 9791 6055Email: [email protected]: www.tgaa.asn.auOur Association provides support andtechnical assistance for the turf industry todeliver environmentally sustainablesurfaces for sport and recreation.The Turf Grass Association Australia Inc. (TGAA)was formed in Melbourne after a meeting at theMelbourne Cricket Ground on November 22nd1989. A steering committee was elected and theAims and Objectives written and later ratified at thefirst Annual General Meeting in April 1990.Thus the official TGAA was formed to give all turfmanagers and allied trades a single representativebody. Up until this time sportsfield curators,racecourse managers, council workers, groundsmenand those connected with the industry such aschemical, fertiliser and irrigation personnel had onlya small amount of input into how the sportsturfindustry was organized.The formation of the TGAA meant that everyoneassociated with the industry, no matter how smallhad a say. Describing ourselves as a non-profitindustry body totally funded by its members andthrough sponsorship, we represent turfpractitioners and industry bodies Australia wide nomatter their size. 55
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND FURTHER READINGI would like to thank the following people for their assistance in supplying photos, graphics andformatting this booklet. Daniel Schwarz - Hailebury College Ian Beel - Turf Contractor Mark Doyle - City of Stonnington Gary Thomas - Yellow Box Computer Services Ernst Gmehling - Ground Science Sue Bailey – TGAA Phil Ford Courses and Seminars Cricket Victoria runs a half day basic pitch preparation course in mid September TAFE Institutes that teach Turf Management run courses that will assist curators TGAA runs an excellent seminar in Winter that is very popular and relevantThere are several notes, booklets and books written on cricket pitch preparation which mayassist you in your knowledge and pitch preparation.Some of these are listed below:Cricket Wickets Science Verses FictionBy Keith McIntyre and Don McIntyrePublished by Horticultural Engineering Consultancy (2001)5 Brimage Place Kambah ACT 2902This is an excellent book of around 280 pages and costs about $65.It gives in depth details on a range of topics including preparation,wicket construction, soil selection etc, 14 chapters in all.Sports Grounds and Turf Wickets a Practical GuideBy Carl LiffmanPublished by TAFE Publications Unit (1984)37 Langridge Street Collingwood 3066This is a general turf grass book covering a range of topics including weeds, diseases, grasstypes and also wicket preparation. It may be hard to purchase a copy and if this is the caseyou may have some luck at libraries or do a search on line. 56
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