England expects ... The Ashes
It began more than 120 years ago. The third Australian cricket team to tour England achieved the unthinkable. They won, audaciously, and against a team that contained the legendary WG Grace. Until then England had never been beaten on home soil.
The following day, a mock obituary ran in the Sporting Times “in affectionate remembrance of English cricket, which died at the Oval on 29th August, 1882. The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”
That same winter the England team toured Australia and won the Test series 2-1. The Hon Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, and captain of the victorious England team was presented with an urn containing the burnt remains of a bail.
Thus “The Ashes” was created, and the fiercest of all sporting rivalries was born.
England supporters will not need reminding that it is 18 years since the honours belonged to the ‘Mother Country’. The return of the Ashes is long overdue, and there are many who believe that the present England team has the ability to do it.
Although, don’t say that too loudly in the presence of any Aussies!
Playing a vital, but understated, role in the Ashes series will be the Head Groundsmen at the five Test venues. All are seasoned, long serving professionals. Preparing for a Test match is nothing new, but are things going as smoothly as they would like, and do they have any personal thoughts on the outcome?
To find out how they were preparing for this summer’s long awaited series, PITCHCARE spoke with each of them.
First Test, Lord’s, 21-25 July Head Groundsman, Mick Hunt, 20 years in charge
I AM pleased with the appearance and the performance of the square so far this season. It is holding up and performing really well, especially as we have so many matches at Lord’s every year.
I believe the good coverage of grass we achieved throughout the autumn, winter and spring months was the result of the feeding
programme we
implemented, applying Rigby Taylor’s Activate, a nutrient activator, every six weeks. The feeding programme has given us some excellent results. The grass was sitting up, much healthier and had a great colour. From now until the start of the Test I will just keep an eye on the test pitch. I am particularly mindful of any damage and scarring that may occur from fielding players’ feet during matches running up to the test.
Nowadays, fielders, instead of just
walking in, they hop, stutter and skip, generally from the
1 mid-off position.
Experience has taught me that the vulnerable areas are 60 to 70 feet away from the pitch that is being played.
I have to learn to live with the fact that our test pitch is always positioned in the middle of the square and will always be vulnerable when games are played either side of it.
Over a 15 year period all our pitches have been relaid, so I am confident that none of them, including the Test pitch, will let us down. Our test pitch
preparations will be the same as always; we gradually reduce the height of the sward and roll to produce the optimum playing surface. Usually the weather dictates when we undertake our preparations, either speeding them up or
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