WITH the sun shining and the start of the WDCA cricket season just a few short weeks away, preparations are underway to get the turf wickets around the region looking as good as they can.

Pitch conditions can drastically alter the outcome of a match and even player enjoyment – no one wants to spend all day on a slow, dead wicket.

Batters look to play their best shots on a reliable deck with no nasty surprises, while bowlers want bounce, pace, variation and turn.

Norm Minns Oval pitch curator Barry Grant said his idea of a good wicket leaves plenty for batters and bowlers to work with.

"It's a pretty good, flat deck, there're always a few runs in it," he said.

"There's a bit in it for the bowlers early, a bit of grass, then as the day wears on it turns into a good batting deck.

"If you hang around on it, you should be able to get a few runs on it.

"A good, even cover of grass – that's all I'm looking for."

Grant said the council have handed over control of the pitch to him after doing some post–football season maintenance.

"The council guys raise the levels after the football season with extra turf, they put a small amount of extra turf on top of the table," he said.

"Then they get a machine, a laser level, and just level the whole table completely, they get it level so there's no low spots.

"They seed it and pretty much that's the council, then they hand it over to me probably pretty much from now on.

"I'll probably start rolling out the table this week."

The recent rainfalls are sure to turn the wickets into a bit of a green top, but won't majorly impact the decks.

"In the end, you've just got to get your opportunities with the weather," Grant said.

"The only impact is you're not going to get on it probably as much as you'd like with the roller.

"You try and roll the table over a 10–day period, just try and do a fair bit of that – if it's too wet you probably can't do that.

"You've sort of got to have a look and see what growth we've got and go from there."

The WDCA is currently looking at a start to the season on Saturday, November 13.