Reading the pitch and conditions before you pick a side

Every selection meeting should start with a question about the pitch. The same eleven that wins on a green surface under cloud will lose on a dry turner in the heat, and a manager who picks the "best XI" without asking where it is playing has picked the wrong one. Here is how to read the conditions and what each reading should change.

The pitch itself

Green top. Live grass, often a little moisture underneath. The ball seams and bounces, batting is hard early and the fast bowlers dominate. Pick an extra seamer, bat deep, and if you win the toss, bowl. The first session is the whole match.

Flat track. Hard, dry, even, no grass. The classic "road". Bowlers get nothing, totals are huge, and the match is won by whichever batting side is more patient. Bat first, pick your best six batters, and choose bowlers who take wickets rather than ones who go for few, because on a flat pitch containment is impossible.

Turner or dust bowl. Dry, cracked, dusty. It grips from the first day and turns square by the third. Two spinners, sometimes three; batters who use their feet and sweep; and bat first, because batting last on this surface is close to impossible.

Wearing pitch. Most Test surfaces are none of the above at the start and all of them by the end. A pitch that seams on day one flattens by day two and starts to crack by day four. Read the forecast for the whole match, not the first morning, when you decide what to do at the toss and whether to declare or enforce a follow-on.

The air

Cloud and humidity help the ball swing. A grey morning in England or an overcast afternoon anywhere is a fast bowler's weather, and a swing bowler who is ordinary under blue skies becomes dangerous. Heat and dry air do the opposite: the swing goes by the tenth over and the plan must be built on seam, reverse swing later, and spin.

Dew is the white-ball manager's obsession. On evenings in the subcontinent, moisture settles on the outfield from around the tenth over of the second innings, the ball gets wet, and bowlers, spinners especially, cannot grip it. That is why sides chase under lights and why a captain who wins the toss in an evening match will usually bowl first. If you must bat first when dew is expected, pick bowlers who can cope with a wet ball, which usually means fewer spinners.

The clock

In a day-night Test the pink ball does most under lights, and the twilight session is the hardest for batting. That changes the shape of the day: you want your best fast bowler fresh for the evening, and you do not want your tail exposed at dusk on the first day. A declaration that puts the opposition in at twilight is worth more than one that gives them a sunny morning.

Even in a day match, the time of the season matters. Early-season pitches are often greener and damper; late-season ones are dry and worn. The same ground plays differently in March and October.

The ground

Every ground has a history. Some are chasing grounds, where dew and short boundaries make the second innings easy; some favour batting first because the pitch slows down. Some have a short straight boundary that makes a fast bowler's yorker plan more fragile and a spinner's flight plan more dangerous. Before the toss, know the ground's record for bat-first and chase-first results and its average first-innings score.

Home advantage is largely conditions. A home side knows how the pitch will change, has the spinners or seamers to exploit it, and has batters who grew up on it. A touring side must pick the XI it thinks the conditions demand rather than the one it prefers, and that is where touring sides lose: playing three seamers on a turner because that is the attack that won at home.

Turning the reading into an XI

Once you have read the surface, the changes are usually simple.

Reading	Change
Green, cloudy	Extra seamer for a spinner; bowl first; bat deep
Flat, hot	Wicket-taking bowlers over economical ones; bat first; extra batter if the attack is thin
Dry, turning	Two or three spinners; batters who play spin; bat first
Evening match, dew expected	Bowl first; fewer spinners if batting first
Day-night Test	Best fast bowler rested for the evening; protect the tail at twilight
Short straight boundary	Bowlers with wide-line plans over yorker-only ones

Watch the match, not just the forecast

The surface will not do what the groundsman said, and the first ten overs will tell you what it is actually doing. If the ball is seaming when you expected it to swing, the field changes: more catchers behind the bat, fewer in front. If a spinner is turning it in the seventh over of a T20, bowl him out before the batters adjust. The reading before the match sets the plan; the reading during it sets the field.

Masterstroke builds every match out of the ground and the date, so a fixture in April plays differently from the same fixture in October, and a Test pitch cracks and wears in front of you. The commentary reads the conditions out loud, and the plan that ignores them gets punished the way it would in the real thing.