ECB Grass is Always Greener

ECB investigating suitability of new hybrid pitches.

PTG Editor.

ECB media release.

Monday, 19 June 2017.

PTG 2170-11005.

Two “hybrid” pitches, in which twisted yarn has been incorporated into a natural turf grass surface, have been installed at the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough. The ECB calls the move, which been “inspired" by what is says is the positive impact of similar surfaces in Premier League football, “ground breaking”, and that it may eventually have advantages for the recreational game.

The yarn makes up around five per cent of the surface of the pitches, and football experience is that it has led to considerable improvements in stability and durability. As a result the ECB are able to investigate whether there could be equivalent advantages for cricket, especially at recreational level.

Chris Wood, the ECB’s Pitches Consultant, said the work now being undertaken "goes back several years to a conversation I had with Darren Baldwin, Tottenham Hotspur’s Head Groundsman.  The majority of Premier League venues now use hybrid pitches, and even to the casual observer of football, I think it’s obvious that those pitches have been of a far more consistently high quality, around all clubs and throughout the season".

“That is”, continued Wood, "because introducing a relatively small amount of artificial twisted yarn greatly improves the stability of the surface underfoot, and allows the sward [the upper level of the soil in which the grass sits] to endure the long football season with a consistent playing performance.  It is fitting that we have installed the pitches at Loughborough, as our centre for innovation around cricket”.

Wood said the ECB "have had to wait to apply this technique to cricket – there have been semi-hybrid pitches, but using artificial turf with cricket loam infill rather than natural grass. But now the ‘SISGrass’ company have developed a new, more compact stitching unit than has been used for football. We took the machine to Loughborough last week and have laid one pitch on the square and another in the outdoor nets".

“We’ve used a straw-coloured yarn, rather than the brighter green in use in football, to make it look as authentic as possible. They still need to be seeded and enhanced, but we hope they will be playable in the near future.  Possible advantages are increased durability of pitches for matchplay and practice, with prolonged uniformity of grass cover. We need to see whether the ball moves off the seam, and if there are significant impacts on bounce and carry".

“Clearly there will also be changes to the character of the game if pitches are deteriorating less. But it is possible that the introduction of the artificial yarn may lead to the ball ‘grabbing’, and therefore turning more consistently. We have already seen from a semi-hybrid pitch facility in Loughborough and at the International Cricket Academy in Dubai that the ball does turn".

Will Relf, the Sports Grounds Manager at Loughborough University, will be taking charge of this trial, as he has done several other research projects that have allowed a study of a variety of surfaces.  “Will is excited by this latest trial, and so am I”, said Wood.  “It could be one of the most interesting projects in my time with the ECB”.