In this article let us take a look at all the ways on how dew factor can affect the cricket match and whether it is going to be a good for batting or bowling in detail
So if you are confused on what is dew factor in cricket in the first place then you should read this article of mine where I explain it in detail and if you continuously listen to cricket commentary and they speak about the influence of dew factor on the match then you should be reading this article to get all of your doubts cleared on this topic.
So let’s get started.
How dew affect cricket match?
Dew can affect quite significantly & change the results of any match to any side and in my opinion, this factor is what makes cricket sometimes unfair and unpredictable but very fascinating.
Lets dig Deep and look at how does dew factor actually affect any cricket match in detail.
- Dew makes the ball harder to hold and grip
- There will be more miss fields & miss catches by players due to dew
- It becomes hard for the bowlers to bowl their line and length accurately
- It also becomes harder for the batsman to score boundaries
- The ball won’t swing & seam much
- It affects bowlers both fast and spin to bowl properly
- It causes the ball to skid on bat due to lower friction
- Toss will become more crucial than match and runs or wickets
Let’s take a deep look on how dew factor can change the direction & result of any match in detail starting with reason 1,
Dew makes the ball harder to hold and grip
One of the primary disadvantages of dew is that it makes the ball of harder to hold and grip both as a fast bowler and fielder.
First of all any Cricket ball whether it is white ball which is used in Limited overs matches like ODI & T20 and red ball which is used in test matches both are made using cow leather and any genuine leather will always soak and absorb water.
And Dew as you have learnt earlier is all about droplets of water present on the grass so when the ball passes on the field as the batsman hits the ball, the ball will soak and absorb the water and it makes harder for the cricketers like bowlers to hold and grip it.
For better understanding you can think of it as the wet soap which you use while bathing, it becomes harder for any normal individual to grip any wet soap while bathing because there will be less friction between the soap and the palm, similarly when the ball gets wet it becomes harder for the bowler and field to hold and give the ball on their palm because of less friction.
This can seriously impact any cricket match as you can see more miss fields and catch drops by the fielders, if you watch cricket for a while then you must have heard the saying that catches win matches, but dew factor makes hard for the fielders to catch the ball and hold it because fielders also have sweat on their body and palms
because of constantly running on the cricket field and the air around the ground will be warm so there will be less friction between the ball which is already wet and the fielders palm which is slightly wet due to sweat,
at the same time as a bowler it becomes harder for the bowler to ball the line and length properly because their will be less friction and the ball becomes slippery when bowlers bowls the ball.
Because of this you will often see fielder constantly rubbing the cricket ball using any white or red colour towel before handing the ball to the bowler in the middle of the over especially in T20 and ODI matches as shown in the image below,
The fielders do this in order to reduce the moisture present on the surface of the ball so that it becomes easy for the bowler to bowl and increases a little bit of friction at the same time bowlers and spinners rub their palm on the ground & pitch as shown in the image below
They do it to get some friction and remove sweat and dew on their palm as it helps have some friction which is very important to hold the ball and bowl the line and length accurately both for bowler and spinner.
Compared to wrist spinners, the finger-spin bowlers are affected more while bowling with such ball as they depend on gripping the ball to get the required amount of turn.
To summarise, because ball gets wet and slippery and it becomes hard to hold and grip, the following will happen,
- You will see more fields and drop catches in the cricket field and we all know that catches in matches in cricket so it can significantly affect any cricket match result
- Bowlers cannot hold the ball properly in their hand due to less friction between the ball and the palm and the ball gets slippery so it becomes hard for the bowlers to bowl their line and length accurately on the pitch
- Dew will also affect spinners because it will also affect them as to hold, grip and turn the ball in the air simply because there will be less friction between the ball and the palm of the bowler and because of this spinners will often bowl more full tosses and miss their line and length because ball slips away from the palm
- Fielders can also over throw the ball in field due to dew on the ball and slipperiness
Now let’s take a look at more ways on how dew can affect any cricket match.
It also becomes harder for the batsman to score boundaries
Apart from bowling and fielding dew factor will also affect batting and let me tell you how,
Dew factor will make the ball more heavier because any white ball in cricket is made of using cow leather and any leather will usually soak water, moisture and because of that the cricket ball will become more heavier
compared to its normal weight which is 160 grams and the batsman will have to put extra energy behind their cricketing shots in order to get the ball towards the boundary because the ball is more heavier.
Apart from that because the outfield of the cricket ground is wet due to dew and also soft and the ball is quite heavy, This means that when a batsman hits the ball aerially and it bounces on the turf,
it is more likely to make a dent in the soft ground and ‘plug’. This means that a lot of the momentum of the ball will be stopped, making it harder to get to the boundary, because they will be more sure and waters on the grass which will slow down the pace of the ball on ground.
Because of this reason you will often see, rolling machines called super soppers & ropes on the cricket field to reduce the moisture on the grass of the ground which is shown in the image below.
The ball won’t swing & seam much
Another way dew factor can affect the cricket match is that it will reduce the amount of Swing or seam that any Cricket ball would have in match.
First of all there are two types of fast bowling in general which are swing bowling and seam bowling.
Basically swing bowling is a type of bowling where the ball moves in the air in either inside or outside the batsman which is called inswing or outswing, whereas Seam bowling is type of bowling where ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam ( the stitches present on the ball) and the ball will deviate after it lands & bounces on the cricket pitch.
First of all, in swing bowling, the ball will only swing if one side of the ball is shiny and other one is rough, in such a case due to different air pressure on different sides of ball,
the ball will move in the air but when the dew factor comes into the match then because the ball will soak all the moisture present on the grass in it and both the sides of the ball will become soft due to moisture present on the ball, the very science behind ball swinging is absent so there will not be any swing or movement of ball in air.
Dew has a lot of influence on the cricket pitch. In general, as the match progresses, cracks on the pitch open lightly because of continuously hitting the ball on pitch at a high speed and constantly running on the pitch to take runs for the batsman and the cracks which open Slow Down the pitch and
increase the friction on the pitch, and the ball doesn’t come onto the bat comfortably. So the pitch favors the bowlers in the second half of the game, and chasing seems complicated but
due to Dew factor the cracks don’t open up due to moisture present on the pitch and there will not be any cracks, less friction and less help for bowlers.
Similarly their will also be no seam or deviation of the ball because first of all even the cricket pitch will also have some moisture and obviously the ball will become soft because of Dew present on it so there will be less friction between the pitch and the ball to create any bounce, Seam and
when there is no or minimal friction between ball and pitch, the ball will skid on to the bat because if the friction is present between ball and pitch and there is no dew factor then the ball will slow down after it contacts with pitch (because friction will slow down the motion of objects on the surface which is basic science)
the pace of the ball will get reduced, ball will deviate in air and it can mess up or distract batsmen and their timing on shots but it will not happen because of dew.
Think of it like wet bar of soap, when dew is present, ball becomes like that and it becomes hard to hold, throw, and grip the soap and same happens with wet ball.
Because of this reason, the Dew factor will help immensely to the batting side because first of all ball does not swing, nor seam and it does not also help spinners because it becomes hard for them to hold and grip the ball while releasing it and
because the balls skids onto the bat and having no friction on the ground between ball and pitch, batsman can easily play the cricketing shots because the pace of the ball does not get reduced and it becomes easy to time the cricketing shots for batsman and score more runs.
Toss will become more crucial than match and runs or wickets
Because of all these reasons and effects of dew factor in cricket match,
Any team which wins the toss especially in T20 and ODI Cricket, they would most likely choose to select bowling first if there will be dew factor in second innings and if the match is played in conditions where there is high humidity because more humidity means more dew factor during the night time & second innings.
This is another disadvantage of dew factor because any team which selects bowling first after winning the toss keeping in mind the dew factor will first of all make the game unfair and
the team which wins the toss will have higher advantage of winning the match before the match starts and team which lost the toss will lose some confidence and have a thought of dew factor affecting the game back of the mind which can reflect in their performance in game.
For example if you have been watching cricket in recent times, then in T20 world cup of 2021 which was held in UAE, dew factor was a decider of every match, almost every team which has selected bowling first after winning the toss has won the match in the tournament including knock out matches, semi finals and finals as well.
This is the last disadvantage and affect of dew factor in cricket match.
Well as a cricket fan you might get a doubt that can we not do anything in order to reduce the dew factor, to that I would say of course we can and we are doing quite a bit to reduced the dew factor but we cannot completely change the cycle of the nature,
conclusion
These are all the things you need know about dew factor and its influence in the cricket game.
Do let me know what are your thoughts about dew factors in the comment section below and also share the article and subscribe to my blog to receive notifications as whenever I publish a new article.