The Reappearing Pitch

The Australia v South Africa Test in Hobart was notable for it's predicated seaming pitch.

Kyle Abbot led the way with 6/77 and Philander and Rabada in particular bowling some unplayable balls.

Why was this the case? Well if you recall Day 2 was a complete and total washout which meant the Day 3 Pitch was actually a Day 2 pitch and so on. What this really meant was that the grass rested under the covers for two nights and one day and with all the moisture around, it literally came back to life.

PitchScan? demonstrated this beautifully when you compare the end of Day 1 pitch especially the middle areas, where the grass was starting it's inevitable slide towards the darker scale (Stressed/Dead) to be suddenly rejuvenated at the start of Day 3 with the middle of pitch seemingly (and as expected but never demonstrated before) growing back to life.

If you have a spare 45 seconds take the time to view this video where KP gives a really good assessment as to the data that came out of PitchScan?- https://twitter.com/wwos/status/798295306601275392

Where it gets really interesting is that the Darker areas around where the bowlers, batters, Umpires and Keepers stand, tended to get Darker rather than lighter. Keep in mind that grass doesn't 'stress' immediately it takes a little while to really show up the stress and especially given the pitches can't be watered. It's no real surprise that the areas under very heavy traffic that once they are in serious decline, it's unlikely to grow back and especially not during a game.

This doesn't give the full story as to why South Africa's bowling unit were better able to exploit the conditions than ours and I look forward to sharing deeper insights to PitchScan? and why this is such a useful tool for teams when you start to overlay Bowling Heat maps.

The Gabba Day/Night Test match is upon us in a few days and I look forward to comparing how the Adelaide Pitch compares to the Gabba Pitch.