“What can be frustrating is when I have prepared one of the off-centre strips for a game, but the broadcaster prefers another one, because of sponsorship or camera position issues.”
connections, wiring and ducting does not pose a problem to players, the groundstaff or others accessing the pitch. I tend not to get involved with the TV crews work, as I trust that they know what they are doing,” Richard explains. Compared to sports such as horse racing, cricket holds many possibilities for camera positions, ranging from stump and mid-wicket positions to the Hawk-Eye computerised system for tracking ball trajectory, but most are decided at the beginning of the season. “Trends are always changing and my job is becoming tougher each year as technology changes, but this is great for the club and we are lucky that Sky are so cooperative to work with. If we cannot give them a camera shot they want, they usually understand why.” The complexity of camera coverage for
cricket has reached its limit, Richard believes - at least for the time being - but recent developments, such as staging concerts that attract 20,000-strong crowds, will bring both Durham and television fresh challenges, he maintains. Ground improvements will swell
spectator capacity from 16,000 to 20,000 by 2010, a reflection of the following the club now enjoys.
Not everything runs according to the schedule though. In his ten years as head groundsman, David Measor has witnessed a few difficulties in delivering televised coverage. “I liase with the production teams in the run-up to a game, primarily relating to camera set-ups and cabling. The only real issues concern the groundsheets. If the weather is particularly bad - as it has been in the last couple of years - water can collect on the surface and we use the blotter machine to soak it up and remove it to the perimeter.” “Problems can arise when we are trying to clear the water while the production teams are also trying to do their job. At the risk of stating the obvious, they are not keen about water coming into contact with perimeter cables.”
David managed the aftermath of the 2000 flood, when the nearby River Wear burst its banks. “It’s an ever-present danger,” he says “The water levels rose dangerously high again last year after
heavy rainfall and we had to call off the one day Twenty20 game against South Africa.”
The rain coming down and the river levels coming up offered no gradient for groundwater to drain away from the venue. “What can be frustrating is when I have prepared one of the off-centre strips for a game, but the broadcaster prefers another one, because of sponsorship or camera position issues.” “The television teams are pretty good though and give us plenty of notice if they want to change anything. That’s an increasingly important issue because Durham are enjoying far more televised action now they are a big player.” Mirroring the pressure that
groundscare staff in football are experiencing because of greater media exposure, cricket staff too are feeling the strain more, David admits. “There is certainly more pressure in the job over the last seven or eight years. Because of the millions watching on TV, you are under far greater scrutiny than before.”
“There is certainly more pressure in the job over the last seven or eight years. Because of the millions watching on TV, you are
under far greater scrutiny than before” David Measor, Head Groundsman, Durham County Cricket Club
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