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[Johnny]

Skippering today in a cup match. Yesterday's game at the ground we are playing at was cancelled. If today does go ahead I presume we're going to be on a fairly moist surface.

What's most people's experiences in terms of how soggy dogs play. I think they either dry out and get better as the game goes on OR get more cut up and get worse.

But which way is more predominant? And therefore should I bat or bowl first if I win the toss?

[A-Swing-And-A-Miss]

I would say bowl first, every time I have played on a wet pitch it has dried out a significant amount by tea and the team batting 2nd almost always wins.

Trying to bat first is a very risky strategy that could work if the pitch gets worse but the chances of you getting bowled out cheaply and losing are high.

[Bruce]

Bowl. If it cuts up, you batsmen will be on the front foot.
The likelyhood of a ball hitting a diviot if you will is slim.

[Dan W]

The soggier it is the harder it is to bat on for a number of reasons, most notably though the bounce is awful (though you will lose some speed) and the outfield is even worse (nothing worse as a batsman knowing you have to really leather it to get anything near a boundary, and even the best connected drives ensure you're running 3...)

Also if there's a threat of rain, then you know your task a bit better if you're batting second...i.e. if it looks like rain is imminent then you know to go for it or get the boycott strokes out.


Though I'm a batsman (theoretically!) so I always ask cap'n to bat first...always!

[RoyalParkReds]

What is the saying, " 9 times out of 10 you should automatically bat, the other time you should think about it and than bat anyway".  or something along those lines.

I would say even though it may not be the best pitch to bat on, they're most likely going to experience worse batting conditions batting second. Plus with the wet, although the outfield will be more slow, their bowl will die quickly and not do much.

Batting second puts so much pressure on your batting, especially your second half of batsman. Needing 50 odd runs with 5 wickets in hand can seem a long way away when the pitch is playing up and the pressure not to go out is on.

Runs on the board is the key !


I have had almost no experience with being a captain though.

[alba caerulea]

If you do end up batting 2nd do not have the pitch rolled at the interval, this will only bring moisture to the surface that had spent the first innings drying out

[uknsaunders]

it depends on the degree of soggy we are talking about. If it's a hard deck and it's got wet, bowling first is the better option as it will "fly". If the thing is an absolute pudding then it doesn't really make much difference for either team. It comes down to personnel - a couple of tidy spinners can make it very difficult in either innings. Now if the track is sopping wet be careful about bowling first. Quite often the tracks don't start to dry until midway through the first innings and then the fun really begins. Seam divots harden making bounce unpredictable and balls start to pop. Drying decks aren't always better batting decks.

Reading such wickets requires a bit of local knowledge as each wicket behaves in different ways when wet.

[uknsaunders]

If you do end up batting 2nd do not have the pitch rolled at the interval, this will only bring moisture to the surface that had spent the first innings drying out

That might be the case but the moisture will come up as soon as you start playing on it. Ever wondered why the first few overs of a game nothing seems to happen? Once you start running all over the deck and banging a ball into it, things soon change.

[alba caerulea]

That might be the case but the moisture will come up as soon as you start playing on it. Ever wondered why the first few overs of a game nothing seems to happen? Once you start running all over the deck and banging a ball into it, things soon change.

And if it remains dry today and there is a breeze the worst of it will have left the surface by tea and batting 2nd will be a whole lot easier. The track will be slower but seam movement will be less. By rolling it at tea you are returning it to its state at the beginning of the days play

[Buzz]

look for local knowledge, see the score book to give an indication on how the pitch has played, and given todays forecast I would almost certainly bowl first.

[Johnny]

Local knowledge is hard, as it's a ground I've never been to before , and a club that only joined the league recently.

[uknsaunders]

I know of one occasion last season where we batted first on a damp track because we felt one of the oppos bowlers was a fine swing bowler. The damp outfield negated his swing and it was only when it started to dry out mid-afternoon that he became more of a threat, but he had bowled his allocation by then :-)

I always look up the "home" scores for the teams we are playing away to see how the games have been won. Nothing on the internet to help you?

[Joe]

Always bat first. We won yesterday batting first on a sogdog. It will only get cut up and will do more in the 2nd innings.

[Johnny]

It was soggy, I did win the toss. Decided to put the opposition in and we bowled them out for 102.

Knocked them off for 6 down with 4 overs left.