Playing cricket on astroturf OUTFIELD - Thoughts?

[ShadowsLight]

Greetings

So my cricket club shares a field with a football club. The football club is insistent on converting the fields to astroturf (there's a major drought in Cape Town, so this would help towards using less water and there would a lot less wear and tear on the goal mouths and the rest of the field).

The problem is, is that I feel like the cricket would suffer. While I am not thrilled about batting on an astroturf wicket, the though of diving/sliding around while fielding on astroturf makes me queasy. But maybe that is because I have an outdated idea of what playing on astroturf is like.

So, does anyone here play on an astroturf outfield, and, if so, how is it?

Many thanks

 

[cnerd123]

Is this the kind of AstroTurf that is like a carpet on cement, or is it the one with fake grass and rubber pellets for soil?

If the former, it will be tough to dive around on. If the latter, then it's fine.

 

[Borges]

So, does anyone here play on an astroturf outfield, and, if so, how is it?

Pour plenty (I mean plenty) of water over it, every half an hour or so. Don't know if that is feasible during a drought.

Re. batting/bowling on an astroturf wicket: it should be a lot better than any wicket in Australia.

 

[ShadowsLight]

Is this the kind of AstroTurf that is like a carpet on cement, or is it the one with fake grass and rubber pellets for soil?

If the former, it will be tough to dive around on. If the latter, then it's fine.

Currently, we are in the negotiating stages, so no final decision has been made on what type of astroturf.

Do you have any information on your second type (or at least, a search term or two for me so I can Google the actual product)?

 

[ShadowsLight]

Pour plenty (I mean plenty) of water over it, every half an hour or so. Don't know if that is feasible during a drought.

No, that really isn't. Why must we keep pouring water on the astroturf?

Re. batting/bowling on an astroturf wicket: it should be a lot better than any wicket in Australia.

Well, our wicket was well maintained by a fairly well trained groundskeeper, so our wicket was pretty good (until the rain went away and we went onto water restrictions, that is).

Are there special shoes one can buy to run on Astroturf? I really like playing in my spikes as I feel it gives me just a little more stability at the crease. Can you use spikes on Astro?

 

[Borges]

No, that really isn't. Why must we keep pouring water on the astroturf?

To cool the hot surface, and to minimise the chance of skin burn.

 

[cnerd123]

Look up the difference between AstroTurf and Artificial Turf on Wikipedia

Basically, to my understanding, AstroTurf is used for cricket pitches, while Artificial Turf is more commonly used for football and rugby fields. In HK we play on a ground that has an AstroTurf pitch with Artificial Turf outfield, and it's perfectly fine. Fielding on grass is preferable, because it's generally cooler and softer, and the ball travels slower on grass too. You don't need spikes, and if installed well the Artificial Turf dries up really quickly after rain.

An AstroTurf outfield, on the other hand...you're basically fielding on cement with a carpet on it

 

[ShadowsLight]

Look up the difference between AstroTurf and Artificial Turf on Wikipedia

Basically, to my understanding, AstroTurf is used for cricket pitches, while Artificial Turf is more commonly used for football and rugby fields. In HK we play on a ground that has an AstroTurf pitch with Artificial Turf outfield, and it's perfectly fine. Fielding on grass is preferable, because it's generally cooler and softer, and the ball travels slower on grass too. You don't need spikes, and if installed well the Artificial Turf dries up really quickly after rain.

An AstroTurf outfield, on the other hand...you're basically fielding on cement with a carpet on it

Ah. I suspect the football guys and us have been using the term "Astroturf" as an umbrella expression just to mean "Not Grass, something artificial". We are definitely leaning more towards the Artificial Turf than "carpet on concrete-style" Astroturf. Thank you for clearing up our terminology.

 

[Daemon]

Artificial turf is great when it rains. Fielding is easy because of the even bounce. Outfield can be a bit slow.

However it does get extremely hot on occassion. I've played games where it's 30 degs and been fine, but others where it was 33+ and the little rubber pellets heat up and make it unbearable. These are 30 over games ftr so if you're playing longer ones it could really be an issue. Bear in mind our humidity is very high, not sure what Cape Town's like.

We wear rubber spikes ftr. Metal spikes do not work if the actual pitch is artificial.

 

[cpr]

Just from playing football on artificial pitches, I'd still be a bit wary of sliding around playing cricket on it. The stuff still leaves impressive burn marks on the skin. Put it this way, I wouldn't be rolling my sleeves up on it

 

[Daemon]

Yeah definitely wear long sleeves or at least skins

We had our rugby/soccer field in uni recently converted from grass to artificial turf and I don't think they're going to have a good time lol.

 

[cnerd123]

Yea I wear skins, helps a lot on artificial.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It's fine for playing around with friends but playing an actual competitive match on an astro turf outfield? Nah m8 that's not cricket

Join a club with a proper ground

 

[SteveNZ]

Reminds me of when Auckland wore shorts in the mid 90s for Cricket Max. Sounded like a good idea until guys had no skin left on their lower bodies after a season of diving around on dry, rough ground. In fact in the end their mentality was one of don't dive unless absolutely necessary, the scabs keep coming off.

So yeah, I'd say bad idea.