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A cricket pitch is the central strip of the
playing area between the wickets. The pitch is 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The
surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the
pitch.
In amateur matches, artificial pitches are commonly used. These can be a slab of concrete, overlaid with a coir mat, or
artificial turf. Artificial pitches are rare in professional cricket - only being used when exhibition matches are played in
regions where cricket is not a common sport.
The pitch has very specific markings delineating the creases, as specified by the Laws of
Cricket.
The word wicket is often used to refer to the pitch. Although technically incorrect according the Laws of Cricket
(Law 7 covers the pitch and Law 8 the wickets, distinguishing betwen them), cricket players, followers, and commentators persist
in the usage, with context eliminating any possible ambiguity.
State of the pitch
If the grass on a natural pitch is longer or more moist than usual, the pitch is described as green. A green pitch
favours the bowler over the batsman as the ball can be made to behave erratically on
longer or wet grass. Most club and social cricket is played on pitches that professional cricketers would call green.
A sticky wicket is a pitch that has become wet. This causes the ball to behave erratically, particularly for the
slower or spin bowlers. However, wickets are now generally protected from rain and dew
preceding and during games so that a sticky wicket is rarely seen in first-class cricket. The phrase, however, has retained currency and extended beyond cricket to mean any
difficult situation.
As a match progresses, the pitch dries out. The Laws of Cricket prevent the pitch from being watered during a match. As it
dries out, initially batting becomes easier as any moisture disappeares. Over the course of a four or five-day match, however,
the pitch begins to crack, then crumble and become dusty. This again favours bowlers, particularly spin bowlers who can obtain
large amounts of traction on the surface and make the ball spin a long way.
This change in the relative difficulties of batting and bowling as the state of the pitch changes during a match is one of the
primary strategic considerations that the captain of a the team who wins the coin toss will take into account when deciding which
team will bat first.
Related usages
The word pitch also refers to the bouncing of the ball, usually on the pitch. In this context, the ball is said to
pitch before it reaches the batsman. Where the ball pitches can be qualified as pitched short (bouncing nearer the
bowler), pitched up (nearer the batsman), or pitched on a length (somewhere in between).
Note that, unlike baseball, the word pitch is not used to mean the act
of propelling the ball towards the batsman. This is usually referred to as a ball or a delivery. (Also note
that the word ball does not imply anything about the accuracy of the ball.)
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