A Study on Red Soil to Form an Bouncy Cricket Pitch

The characteristic of soil for pitches varies considerably from country to country, and generally, pitches in Indian subcontinents are regarded to be slow and dusty in contrast to pitches in other countries. This study involves research on the behaviour of soil for cricket pitches in Kerala according to BCCI guidelines expressed in terms of percentages. The main purpose is to make use of locally available soils in order to improve its strength thereby developing a fast and bouncy pitch. For this purpose, different percentage of bentonite clay is added to the available soil in order to yield hardness to the pitch. The clayey property of bentonite clay makes the soil stiffer. Using proper clay content and appropriate techniques and proper maintenance, a perfect pitch can be developed here in Kerala. All the steps and available conditions during making process like soil selection, laboratory tests like compaction, CBR test, specific gravity, sieve analysis, etc., schedules to attain maximum compaction, CBR values and properties of soils do have proved scientific reasons and have the direct correlation with outcome and performances of pitch. This project aims on improving the characteristics of soil for an efficient rebounding pitch.