11. The Ground
Your pride and joy, this is where all the action takes place. There are 2 aspects to the ground that you need to pay particular attention to: The playing surface and spectator facilities.You have a groundskeeper that will prepare the playing surface for you. They cost you £250 per week. All you have to do is tell them what sort of pitch you would like to have prepared for the next match.
The Pitch Options feature from the Ground page.
There are 7 different types of pitch surface that they can prepare for you with each pitch condition favouring a different sort of player:
| Pitch Type | Favoured |
| Uneven | Seam Bowlers |
| Cracked | Seam Bowlers |
| Hard and Fast | Batters |
| Green | Seam Bowlers |
| Flat | Batters |
| Dusty | Spin Bowlers |
| Slow | All Bowlers |
Please note that, while some pitches may appear to behave similarly, some do have more effect or greater leanings than others!
Pitch Squares
Any game you are hosting in the next seven days will be shown as being worked on within your pitch square on your Grounds page. All pitches will start as Green and move towards your default pitch type each day. Please note that if your match is not scheduled at least 7 days in advance, not all pitch types will be possible. After a pitch for the match appears on your square, you may change it to move towards a different pitch from your default. But you better do it quickly or you choice may not be possible! Once a pitch starts moving towards one direction away from Green, it is not possible to change back to the other side of green. For example, if you choose to make your pitch Uneven and then the next day try to change it to Dusty, it will not be possible.
Ground
On the spectator side, you start off with a ground that can hold 6,500 spectators. There are four types of viewing areas that you can have at the ground. Each will cost a different amount to maintain, a different amount to build, and also command a different ticket price for the public to use. As such, each type of seat will attract a different type of punter, and in differing quantities. The details of all this are shown in the table below. All amounts shown are in £ and are per seat or space.
| Type | Building Cost | Maintenance Cost | Income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standing Room | 15.00 | 1.00 | 5.00 |
| Uncovered Seats | 25.00 | 1.60 | 7.50 |
| Covered Seats | 30.00 | 2.20 | 10.00 |
| Members Seats | 100.00 | 5.00 | 25.00 |
When building new places, there is also a fixed cost of £20,000 that will be charged irrespective of how much work is being done. You can get a quote for any development without committing to anything unless you accept an offer. Entering negative values enables you to get a quote for demolishing seats.
Entering additional seating values in the Expand Ground feature on the Ground page feature does not commit you to the order at this point.
Gate Receipts
When a match has finished, you will be able to see how many people came to watch. The proceeds from the gates will be paid out depending on what type of match was being played. In a league match (both FC and OD), the home team will receive the full amount. In cup, BT20 and friendly games the receipts are split 50/50. There are no gate receipts for either team in OD play-off matches.
First Class matches have Match Ticket sales and daily sales. A large number of your fans love the game so much that they are happy to pay for three days regardless of how long the game goes and won't care about a refund if the game finishes early. You'll receive the Match Ticket sales on day one of the FC match, much lower daily sales on subsequent days of play.
All these options can be found at your Ground page.