Pitch length proposals from CJCA for the 2009/10 season

It is proposed that pitch lengths will be shortened for certain grades from next season. The proposed changes are as follows;

Junior 1 Day to change from 18m to 16m

Senior 1 Day (all sections) and Senior Premier to change from full length to 18m

The CJCA committee have no hesitation in recommending these changes to clubs and schools. However we feel this is a major issue which you should be able to provide your feedback on. If the overwhelming opinion is to leave the pitch lengths as they are, then we will consider this. The underlying consideration in making these changes is the physical wellbeing of our junior cricketers and the wish to keep them healthy in the short and long term as well as enjoy their cricket to the utmost.

The biggest hurdle will be the pitch preperation where a lot of grass wickets used in the morning are then used by seniors, playing on a full length, in the afternoon. It is not acceptable for those pitches to be on two different lengths as damage is caused in vital playing areas by juniors playing on the shorter length. We therefore need to come up with an alternative. The CJCA committee are adament that an answer can be found once this move has been endorsed by the clubs and schools.

The various advantages of reducing the pitch length have been summarised by Andrew Reid, Junior Player Development Manager at Canterbury Cricket and are given below.

Bowling

• Players potentially will have a 'safer' action from 18m (less counter-rotation)

• Less likelihood of developing 'unsafe' actions (create good habits to take forward to Secondary Schools cricket)

• Potential to keep bowlers in the game for longer (less injury, more enjoyment)

• Increased accuracy (tighter dispersion - less wides)

• Increased efficiency (increased pace due to better chance of having fingers being behind ball at release - promotion of using correct levers)

• 'Taller' actions promoting increased pace and bounce (higher release point)

• Chance for Spin bowlers to 'bowl' the ball vs 'launch' the ball

• Spin bowlers spin the ball more (easier to drive over front leg and work on ball performance from hand)

Batting

• Batsmen potentially exposed due to increased pace (positive and negative) 

• Batsmen should face higher percentage of pitched up deliveries which are straighter 

• Batsmen will be able to run more singles, and turn 1s into 2s (less distance to run)

• Batsmen will need to develop back-foot play (defensive and attacking, vertical and horizontal) due to bowlers having increased opportunity to bowl short effectively

• Develop fielding skills (batsmen have less distance to run)

Additional material is also viewable if you click on the following links:

School of Human Movement and Exercise Science, The University of Western Australia, Perth

New Zealand Cricket 'Game On' document and recommendations  (Introduction, Overview and Pathways, including year group recommendations)

The full version of 'Game On' is available here.

If you have additional material which should be added please send it to me by email hazeldines@hotmail.com . This may substantiate or disagree with the proposed changes. All suitable material will be added to the site.

We do require your feedback on this issue, positive and negative. Your silence as a club/school will be taken as acceptance to the proposal. Please raise this issue at your next committee meeting and let your members know of the information available on the website so all can have their say. Feedback should be sent to Barry Hazeldine at hazeldines@hotmail.com .

The consultation period will end on February 28th 2009.

FEEDBACK RECEIVED

Gary Rountree OBC - I support the change. While a few girls have passed comments about overpitching, a big advantage as I see it is that we have less wides and more runs credited to batters. It’s not much fun having “Extras” as the biggest contributor in the innings.

Kenji Irie - I would like to add my 10c worth to this debate. I fully endorse any change to senior 1-day lengths being shortened to 18m. 20m is too long for these developing kids.

However, I am not so convinced on the shortening of junior-1 day to 16m. I think 18m is a good length for the majority of Yr 5/6 kids, especially those more proficient at cricket. Yr 4 kids sometimes struggle, and the
problem is that junior 1-day is the only hard-ball option for proficient Yr 4 kids.

From my experience in being involved and coaching teams right through sections 3,2 and 1 of Junior 1-day, is that certainly section 1, and possibly section 2 should remain on 18 m pitches, and section 3 should
be reduced to 16 m. This provides those new-to hard-ball cricketers with a shorter, and easier-to-bowl length. With the paces of some of the quick junior 1-day section 1 bowlers, I think 16m is too short, and
dangerous, for them to be bowling to all but the most technically solid batsman. This sentiment also follows for junior 1-day section 1 spin bowlers - the majority have learnt they get more turn from flighting the ball (quite high sometimes), which gives the ball most grip when it hits the ground, and can turn quite sharply; and a 16m length may reduce the effectiveness of their bowling as it will likely be flatter and tossed fuller (whether this is a good thing or not) - especially wrist spinners where the ball comes out of the back of the hand (only applies to
section 1 spin bowlers I feel; section 2 and 3 spin bowlers struggle to get the ball up to the crease)

While I agree that shortening a pitch in lower grades to reduce double bounce bowling and offering batsmen better opportunities is certainly positive, I believe that such changes to Year 7 and 8 is selling their ability way short.  Changes to the premier grade in particular would be detrimental to their progress. I struggle with the advantages Andrew Reid believes would happen and in fact think the following would: 

Shortening the pitch would reduce  pace bowlers chances of swinging the delivery and a spin bowlers most lethal weapon that being flight - and luring a batsman out of his crease.  Consequently batsmen would be crease bound which is surely something we shouldnt be developing.

This would however go unnoticed at this stage as ALL cricket would have to be played on artificial pitches (where the bounce is consistent and a  batsman is able to stand and deliver) as no quality grass pitches would be available.  This is my biggest concern of all.  There is no way that any grass pitch above this level could be used for junior cricket as severe damage would occur.  There is already a shortage of grass pitches so I doubt any QUALITY 18m ones would become available at all.  This would certainly stand them in poor steed for their future cricket.  Obviously this would put paid to any rep tournaments on grass pitches at grounds such as Ilam or Mandeville.  These are fantastic festivals of cricket  so once again would be a terrible loss.