“We are so keen to have this match that you can get a bit too eager, but if you get on too early you can overdo it”
The MCG Oval - 172 metres long
reconstruct the field and lay the turf for one of the MCG’s biggest fixtures of the year - the
The Ashes wicket - one of ten drop in tracks
reply was “No, it was ripped out by the excavator and thrown in the bin.” “However,” continued Richard, “The Opening Ceremony for the Commonwealth Games was a major hurdle for us. There was so much planned for the arena area. In preparation we decided to take out all the turf, down to bare sand and cover it over with a geo fabric. Then, afterwards, we had 40 hours to dismantle the stage and all the infrastructure, and lay 70,000 square metres of turf before the competitions began. On the night of the Opening Ceremony there were around 300 staff and 30 forklifts at work. It was a beehive of people.” Following the Games, Richard and his team’s work was far from over. They had exactly three weeks to take out the track,
traditional Anzac Day AFL game between local rivals Essington and Collingwood. Apart from the cricket square, the turf type used across the whole of the ground is called Motz, a reinforced turf which can be played on immediately after laying. It is the same product that is used in the nearby Telstra Dome, which I visited last year. Richard kindly explained the technicalities to me, “The Motz turf is a combination of couch and ryegrass, but predominantly rye. The couch is needed to give some stability and strength early in use, but there is only a small percentage left in it now. In reality we maintain it as a rye field. Some groundsmen in other States are going fully warm season grasses, but our climate would not really allow us to do that.” “We have ten pitches on our square, all
are drop-ins in steel frames. The grass is 100% couch, a species called Santa Ana. Our loam is traditionally called Merry Creek, but it’s not from the original stockpile; it’s a heavy black clay that’s found all around Australia.”
This seemed the opportune moment to raise the subject of the Ashes and, in particular, the preparation of the pitch for the Boxing Day Test. “It’s still too early,” commented Richard. “Obviously, we structure other games around the Test pitch but, for the time being, we just keep an eye on it and do some minor top dressing.”
Tools of the Trade SOIL THERMOMETERS
CLIMATIC conditions can dramatically affect the effectiveness of applying certain products such as seed, fertilisers, bio stimulants and pesticides, especially with regard to soil temperatures. For example successful establishment from seed requires a moist aerated soil that has a soil temperature above 10O
Germination will be slower at temperatures below that Again the movement of soil
C.
water and mineral uptake into the grass plant will be greatly influenced by soil temperatures. Soils are also often variable within the field, different soil types may be present - clays,
loam’s and sandy soils all warm up at different rates. Having a better understanding and guide to what your soil temperatures are at any given time will help you in your decision making. Any thermometer that will
measure temperature at a specific depth can be used to measure soil temperature. This category includes ordinary glass bulb thermometers, provided they are long enough to permit reading the temperature when the bulb is inserted to the required depth. Care must be taken to avoid breaking glass thermometers. Before inserting the thermometer
into the soil, make a pilot hole using a rod, screwdriver, etc. of similar diameter as a precaution. There are numerous types of soil thermometers that will give you the information you require. Most are small, portable and easy to carry for example a Turf- Tec DCT1C-S Pocket Digit Termometer (125mm probe) costs about £15.00. It will tell the soil temperature within 10 seconds anywhere between -40 C to 150 C.
Simply insert the thermometer into the top 100- 150 mm of soil, wait a few minutes and take a reading, repeat several times to obtain a mean average reading.
15
“We are so keen to have this match that you can get a bit too eager, but if you get on too early you can overdo it. We will start work on the Test pitch about two weeks out with a little bit of extra grooming, just getting the texture of the grass right and slowly getting some compaction in there.” “Generally, the Melbourne pitch is on the slower side of things. Nobody tends to dominate here. We’re really desperate to try to get some pace and bounce in it but, whether we can achieve that with the climate and clay type, I’m not sure.” “With the pitch we really try to get all aspects of cricket into play during those five days; the opening batsmen dominate in the first session; the opening bowlers do a bit with the ball; see the spinners take some turn on the third or fourth day; a few hundreds. If you can fill the game with all those, then I think we’ve done our job.”
And what about the result, I ventured to ask of a man who had had the experience of preparing two Ashes Test wickets in his previous position at the WACA? “I really don’t know,” said Richard, charitably, “Obviously, I would favour Australia over the series because they’ve got a point to prove after last year.”
“It’s going to be a great atmosphere
here at the MCG, the first four days are all sold out, it will be the world record attendance for any Test match. And we’re looking forward to the Barmy Army coming. However, we have our own group now, called the Fanatics, that’s going to give it back to them. It’s going to be very interesting!”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100