2G Flicx Pitch Bounce Report

Background Information:

Wednesday 13^th July 2022

11:30am

17˚C Clear Sky

Wind – 6mph

Location:

Whitelands Farm Sports Ground

Whitelands Way, Bicester

OX26 1AJ

Pitch Specification:

A 60mm pile installed on a 20mm shock pad made for football/rugby

SBR infill rate -high >14kg/m2

Shock absorption and force reduction -high

On the 13^th of July, Flicx conducted a Bounce Test at Whitelands Farm Sports Ground in Bicester. The aims and objectives were to investigate the bounce of 8 types of balls on three differing surfaces.

The 8 ball types included: Men’s leather ball, Women’s leather ball, Youth leather ball, old leather ball, Tennis ball, Hard Tennis ball, Rubber ball and a Tape ball.

The 3 surfaces used to investigate the bounce were: Rubber Crumb Sports Surface, Rubber Crumb Sports Surface + 2G Flicx Pitch, and Rubber Crumb Sports Surface + 2G Flicx Pitch + Shock Pad.

As a control each delivery was pitched on good length (5-7m) from the stumps on each surface to get consistent results of bounce.

The bowler was a right arm medium-fast bowler – Club level

Men’s leather ball:

The Men’s leather ball, consistently performed at a good standard of bounce on all three surfaces. Showing improvement with the Flicx Pitch and The Flicx Pitch + Shock Pad, illustrating that the 2G Pitch would be more than suitable on this sports surface providing a consistent “true” bounce and carry for a game of cricket with the particular ball.  

Women’s leather ball:

Following a similar trend, the Women’s leather ball had good bounce throughout the testing process. The Flicx Pitch + Shock pad improved the bounce form a mid stump height to top of off. The bounce proved consistent for a high standard of cricket.

Youth leather ball:

Again, following the trend of the men’s and women’s, the youth ball performed better with the Flicx Pitch. The firmer and denser surface provided the ideal surface and bounce for a ball to reach the top of off stump. This would provide a true wicket, replicating a well-prepared grass surface.

Old ball:

The older leather ball behaved differently to the likes of the newer balls. The bounce was relatively regular and maintained a mid-level stump height for the first two surfaces. On the densest surface – the Flicx pitch + shock pad, the ball had a lower bounce. An older ball will generally have less bounce than a newer ball.

Rubber ball:

The rubber ball on the Flicx Pitch, performed the best. The ball off a good length maintained a top of off stump height. The Flicx pitch provides a true and consistent surface for the ball to bounce on. The synthetic surface and the pitch with the shock pad had similar results with a much lower bounce of the ball.

Tennis ball:

The tennis ball performed the worst on the three surface this may be due to the weight of the ball itself and the speed the ball is bowled at. Being a lighter ball, the wind may have more of an effect on the ball. The tennis ball maintained a low bounce throughout.

Hard Tennis ball:

The harder tennis ball, improved with the firmer surface of a Flicx Pitch. The hard tennis ball on a Flicx Pitch had good consistent bounce. The firmer surface would have helped the ball to bounce more.

Tape Ball

The tape ball behaved differently to that of any other ball, maintaining a good bounce (top of off stump) on the synthetic pitch and the Flicx Pitch. However, with the denser surface, the tape ball only achieved a mid stump bounce. This may be due to the ball skidding off the denser surface rather than bouncing.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the bounce of the 8 ball types improved using the Flicx Pitch or the Flicx Pitch + Shock Pad. The denser surfaces provided better bounce for the types of balls excluding the tennis ball. The tennis ball behaved the worst through out the testing process, this is believed to be a result of limiting factors such as weight of the tennis ball and wind.

Overall, the consensus was the Flicx Pitch and the Flicx Pitch + Shock Pad improved the bounce of the ball providing a true and consistent level of bounce to provide a suitable surface for a high standard of cricket.