Groundsman at Tonbridge School, has been carrying out Loam tests on his newly laid cricket square
In a unique experiment, George Alexander, Head
LAURENCE GALE MSc reports
Testing Loams at TONBRIDGE
T
onbridge School in Kent has a reputation for producing good
George Alexander with his favourite read
48
cricketers and quality cricket pitches. One of the most famous pupils of this 450 year old public school is Colin Cowdrey, of Kent and England fame, who boarded there between 1946 and 1951. The Director of Grounds is George Alexander and he oversees 100 acres of sports fields. The all boys school has an extensive range of facilities, but specialises in rugby, football, hockey and cricket. George has spent 13 years at the school. He inherited seven cricket squares that had been laid in the 1980s, three of which, over the years, had begun to sink. In 2001 he began a programme of reconstruction to raise the level of the squares. This gave George the
opportunity to try out a unique experiment.
Two of the squares were
rebuilt, one using Withers Surrey Cricket Loam and the other with Boughton County Loam. With the third, George decided to use totally different loams on each of the six wickets. He wanted to see for himself how other popular clay loams performed, so that he could decide on which material would be most suitable for the school in future years. Nothing like this had ever been done before. George sought advice from Chris Woods of the ECB who also thought it a good idea. A brand new cricket
square was constructed on a drainage raft, on which was laid 150 mm of native clay loam. This was then topped off with six different cricket loams laid to the same depth of 100mm. The selected loams were Ongar, Kaloam, Mendip,
Boughton, GOSTD 125 and Withers Surrey.
The square was
completed in July 2001. The six are maintained identically, with the first games played in May 2002. The idea was to see how the loams performed after having identical maintenance treatments. Mowing, rolling, watering, feeding programmes, scarifying, pitch preparations and repairs were all the same. George even ensured the amount of games played on each was the same.
Now into the fourth year of the experiment, George has witnessed a number of interesting physical traits and different performances from the wickets. In particular, when they have dried out, the bounce and pace difference has been quite significant, providing interesting conditions for both bowlers and batsmen alike.
This experience has given George plenty to think
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