For as long as cricket has been played, one of the most important factors responsible for the quality of play is the surface on which the match is played.

For four-day matches, the ideal pitch is one that allows every facet of the game an opportunity and every cricketer the chance to perform to their best, whether they are seam bowlers, batsmen or spinners.

In one-day cricket, the pitch should be one that allows batsmen to have their day, and thus provide the entertainment that as spectators we have all grown to love.

We shouldn’t forget outfields either – spectacular fielding can only happen on the finest surfaces.

With these objectives in mind, ECB has a Pitches Research Group whose remit is to ensure that the latest soils, grasses and technologies are fully tested and made available to the game as appropriate.

All county pitches have been analysed with information resulting that can be used in order to get the most out of that particular strip. At present, a moisture and rolling trial is underway that is destined to answer questions such as how long to roll, how heavy should the roller be, how fast should the roller travel, how moist should the pitch be, and so on. All these questions are so far unanswered – clearly it is information we need to know.

The aim of all this is not to produce surfaces that are the same across the country – that should never happen as geography and climate vary too much. The aim is however to produce surfaces that will allow the best cricketers to develop and then provide exciting matches for the wider audience.

This ecb.co.uk Pitches section

• Download the new TS4 document - Recommended Guidelines for the construction, preparation and maintenance of cricket pitches and outfields at all levels of the game
• Rolling optimisation for cricket pitch preparation
• If you have any specific questions on pitch care or groundsmanship - please see our Pitches - question and answer forum
• You can download our Pitch Properties and Performance report
• Find out more information on the IOG groundsmanship courses currently available
• Download the report from the ECB Grasses Trial 2003 - Choosing Grasses for Cricket

Facilities documents

ECB produces Technical Specification documents covering:

• Recommended Guidelines for the Preparation and Maintenance of Cricket Pitches and Outfields at all Levels of the Game
• Requirements and Performance Specification for non-Turf Cricket Pitches

For details of both and to download the latest versions, please see the Facilities section