groundsman and local ECB pitch advisor. He is also chairman of the Manchester IOG branch, so we meet quite regularly, much to my benefit not his. The equipment I inherited at Rawtenstall is pretty basic and old, but very functional, well maintained and serviced annually. It includes the aforementionied 36” Mastiff, a 182 Auto Certes, an 18” Marquis, both with 11 blade cylinders, Blue Bird Lawn Comb pedestrian scarifier, Robin pedestrian verticutter, Pattinson spiker/sarrell roller, Scottsspreader, Sisis Ferret, Tru-lute, 3’ Truspread and Auto Turfman, a 3’ Auto Roller with recent Honda engine and numerous hand tools and bits and pieces. This close season we bought a Toro Triple with boxes. It is proving a time saver on the squares and outfield. I’ve
got a couple of germination sheets, each covers a full strip, and three flat rain covers. My wish list would be roll on/off wicket covers and TTS Climate Control sheets. My covers are difficult to handle alone and, if left on too long, encourage disease, in particular Fusarium. I also have an old 48” ride on rotary, great for collecting leaves and scarified matter, but not used for mowing. The Worswick Memorial Ground was bequeathed to Rawtenstall Cricket Club by local businessmen, the Worswick brothers, in the early 1950s. The ground is situated on the main road through the centre of Rawtenstall. It is probably the smallest ground in the Lancashire League; passing motorists have suffered many a broken windscreen and dented side panel.
There are fifteen strips on the senior
square but only five, or at a pinch seven, are able to be used by the first team because of league fielding restrictions and short boundaries. There are also eight properly constructed practice wickets on the outfield, at the Kay Street end of the ground. Two practice strips are prepared at a time and the nets, a type of cassette system, are erected by the players before practice on a Tuesday and taken down on Thursday after senior practice. Minis and juniors practice on Wednesday evenings. The junior square consists of seven properly constructed wickets on the other side of the outfield (U9s to U17s) with strips measuring from 18 to a full 22 yards.
During the playing season six or seven wickets can be on the go at any one time.
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