Different Types Of Cricket Wickets (Pitches)
Bat first or bat second? Ball first or second?
Do these decisions at tosses get you scratching your head thinking, "What on Earth is the reason behind him/her making that call?"
Well, though cricket is a fairly simple sport to comprehend, the strategies and factors that play a part in the sport can be quite a significant bit more to take on board.
Simply put, factors independent of a team's ability arguably influence a team's performance for the better or worse in cricket more than any other sport.
Now, we only want to talk about how the wicket (pitch) affects a captain's decision at the toss but it's quite easy to get lost in the depth of the dive because there's an intricate relationship between the wicket and other elements.
For progress's sake, I'll just briefly trot through a few "other factors," apart from the wicket, that can swing a captain's decision.
1. Team strength/ weakness - Some teams are just better chasers. Others crumble when there's scoreboard pressure.
Some have a better bowling unit whilst others are stronger with the bat than they are with ball in hand. On a good wicket, a team that's better at chasing will more often than not choose to bat second.
2. Opponent strength/ weakness - Some captains are proactive, some are reactive. Meaning others play by their strengths/weaknesses while others play by their opponent's strength/weakness. 
The logic is to make a move that would make your opponent the least comfortable.
(On a bouncy wicket) If your opponent has a reputation of struggling with batting on a bouncy track then why not send them in first to set a score?
3. Weather - Overcast conditions are generally helpful to seamers.
Dewy conditions can limit spin potency and make it easier to bat.
Windy conditions give the ball a bit of drift in the air, which can be quite useful on turning or seaming wickets.
There are several other sub factors within these generalized three but for progress' sake we'll move on to the main meal, shall we?
Different kinds of cricket wickets:
1. Dead wicket
A complete belter. This is what every batsman dreams of. It offers absolutely nothing to the bowlers.
It's hard and has no cracks that will make the ball deviate. It's so compact, will not crumble, and therefore will have very little spin on offer.
These kinds of wickets are usually dull colored with no trace of grass cover. They are usually the best ones for entertaining, high-scoring white ball cricket (short format) matches.
As a captain, if you get one of these surfaces for a test match then you know it's going to be a grueling few days in the field with very little reward.
Depending on the soil composition and compactness, some dead wickets have a bit of bounce in them whilst others are just flat and swallow the bounce (these are the worst ones for bowlers).
Even with a bit of bounce, the worst thing about a dead pitch is that the bounce is consistent.
Variable bounce is useful in that it can make a batsman play some false strokes. Consistent bounce on the other hand is just the stuff dreams are made of.
Add a gloss of dew to a dead wicket... pfff expect career best figures for batsmen. The ball will be sliding onto the bat so nicely, UNIFORMLY and PREDICTABLY.
2. Dusty wicket
When enough cricket is played on any cricketing pitch the wear and tear will cause the wicket to start crumbling.
When it crumbles, more dust particles are released, hence making it dusty.
Dusty wickets generally suit spinners because the loose sand grains offer more grip to the ball.
However, grip is not everyone's friend. That extra bit of friction that gives grip to a spinner will generally slow down the pace of fast bowlers.
This makes fast bowlers less effective on dusty wickets as the batmen have just a little bit more time to adjust, albeit a fraction of a second more.
Also, these wickets don't really offer much lateral movement for seamers.
3. Green wicket
This becomes a relatively faster-paced wicket (because of the skiddy grass patches) with a bit of movement for the bowlers but still a good batting wicket where the ball comes nicely to the bat. A bit of something for everyone.
Now, as a minefield, things can go south for batsmen. Wherever there is vegetation, there is some displacement of soil particles. Wherever there is displacement of soil, cracks will form.
On a green wicket with big enough cracks the ball will be quick, have lateral movement, and variable bounce.
Combine that with overcast, humid conditions, you now have lateral movement in the air, more lateral movement off the surface, variable bounce, and a ball coming in at quick pace. It's the perfect storm.
As the day progresses and a bit of sun bakes the surface, grass cover may die down but then cracks may open up just a bit more.
4. i) Hard and soft wickets
Wicket hardness has less to do with the surface of the pitch but more with the soil layers underneath. The wicket's clay to sand ratio will often determine how compact it is and for how long it can stay so.
This influences how the surface of a cricket pitch behaves throughout the course of a day, be it in T20 cricket, one day cricket, or test cricket.
Hard wickets generally tend to maintain their integrity better through the course of a match. This means a dead, hard wicket will resist crumbling for longer such that in a one day match the team batting second would expect to bat on more or less the exact same pitch conditions as the side batting first.
ii) Softer wickets
These have less compact soil layers and therefore crumble faster. In a one day match these surfaces may become slower during the second innings and will make it a bit harder batting second.
Some wickets only become soft because a lot of cricket would have been played on the same pitch over a short period.
This is particularly the case when multi-team tournaments are played over a limited number of pitches. Runs scored per game will tend to gradually decrease as the tournament progresses due to the wicket tiring out and becoming softer and slower.
5. Wet wickets
Wet pitches can be classified into two groups: surface moisture and inherent moisture.
i) Surface moisture refers to just a tinge of moisture on the pitch's visible uppermost deck. This moisture usually evaporates within the course of the day as the sun beats down on the surface.
Surface moisture can aid both the bowler and the batsman. To the bowler it can make the ball just a little more skiddy and give an extra zip in pace off the surface.
To the batsman it gives a true-paced pitch with a nice, consistent ball speed to the bat.
On a green wicket, surface moisture will favor the bowler as the combination of moisture and grass cover on the wicket gives an extra bit of zip and nip to the lateral movement on offer.
On a hard and dead wicket the moisture will favor the batsman, as has already been alluded to earlier.
ii) Inherent moisture refers to moisture content within the soil layers below the surface. This type of moisture may take days to dry out.
Inherent moisture will make a pitch slower due to the dampness. This will usually lead to two-paced wickets where one delivery may fizz through whist another will get stuck a bit in the wicket.
These are low-scoring wickets because it's a bit harder for a batsman to gain fluency.
And that's that for now...
That's an overview of pitches to expect. This still doesn't do justice to the sheer amount of permutations that will go through the process of reading a wicket and making a decision to either take a ball or bat first.
The next time one captain decides to bat first whilst his opponent is chomping at the bit to bowl first you will now probably know that, win or lose, in their own right they each probably made the right call at the toss.
Let's talk cricket in the comment section below:)
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