“The track still played badly but it didn’t half look good!”
Wise facility has been limited this year; we’ll probably have only put on 25 or 30 games by the end of the season. Training is carried out at both facilities on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Due to the current state of the square I’ve been forced to stop the training on it, which is far from an ideal situation. As a player, I’m well aware that you need to practice on a surface that performs the same, or similar, to the one which you play matches on. I’ve been cutting tracks on the outfield to allow at least some sort of grass training, and we managed to get the net area back into use in July.
The way the tracks have performed
hasn’t really influenced our decisions about the end of season work. A few core samples early in the season showed exactly what was going to be required (with between 0.5 & 1.5 inches of thatch present). These decisions have been backed up by the ECB ground inspector, Dennis Lane, and much of the work will definitely be carried out according to his report.
The machinery I use is simply the
spare equipment from the Peverell Park ground, along with a couple of ebay
purchases. The wicket cutter is an old Atco 20”, which just about does the job. We got an ancient Atco footstart 24” from ebay as the clutch on it is identical to the one on the wicket cutter and we knew there were some bits that were obsolete. It turned out that this 24” started with only about 2 hours of tinkering, and it does a pretty good cut. The main square cutter is a 30” Allett Regal - again off ebay. It does an adequate job and, given its weight (approx 250Kg), it doubles up as a light/medium roller. We’ve got a Ransomes 180D, which we will be doing up over the winter, to keep the outfield under control. At present, the council are cutting it during the summer, but they need to work to a schedule, and their cutting schedules aren’t always when we require it. We need to be able to cut as and when the weather allows. Obviously, most of all, I’d like a surface with less thatch in it but, in addition to, or instead of, our existing equipment I’d really like a verticutter and brush system, and then a wicket cutter that can cut low. Alongside that we desperately need a new roller, we have to hire one at present
Track before using the Dennis FT system
and could certainly spend that hire money in other areas.
I had a demo of the Dennis FT system and I was stunned at the difference it made - you can see the difference in the before FT and after FT photos. The track still played badly, but it didn’t half look good. So one of them (or equivalent) is certainly on my shopping list.
The existing square is made up of
Surrey Loam. The outfield is some kind of sandy root zone, which seems to drain very well indeed.
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