Square Bashing!
Neil Godrich, Head Groundsman at Derbyshire County Cricket Club, has been involved in an ambitious programme to turn the square through ninety degrees to combat the effects of the setting sun. Our editor caught up with him to find that the work has been completed a year ahead of schedule
D
erbyshire County Cricket Club are now entering the final phase of their ground redevelopment
programme, the primary aim to turn the square a full 90O
from an east/west to a
north/south orientation. It was a move born out of necessity.
The original decision for Derbyshire to play in an east/west direction was taken decades ago, long before floodlit, televised cricket came into the equation. With the advent of day/night limited over matches and, more recently, Twenty20, the setting sun threw up a huge problem for players during the high summer months, as it went down behind the bowler’s arm whilst shining straight into the batsmen’s eyes.
This unfortunate alignment with Mother Nature meant that, unless there was a modicum of cloud cover, the game had to be delayed, often for up to an hour, until the sun had gone down. In the last couple of seasons the club have used a large screen on a telescopic hoist to block out the sun and, whilst this somewhat ‘Heath Robinson’ method has been successful, it was not ideal. Therefore, the turning of the square was the logical step to take. The £300,000 project is now on course
to be ready for the 2010 playing season, one year ahead of schedule.
102 The cost of the project includes
ground works (building of the new pitches), installing a pop-up irrigation system in the outfield, moving the main scoreboard, relocating two of the floodlight columns, erecting a new 350 seat marquee and building a 2,000 seater stand. The latter will be completed ahead of the 2010 season (on the Bank side of the ground) and will provide prime viewing from behind the bowler’s arm. The work will bring the ground capacity up to 7,850. The extensive and logistical ground works have been a two-year project for Head Groundsman, Neil Godrich, and his two full time assistants, ‘Bub’ Hatton and Ben Howe. He also employs his assistant head groundsman, Steve Hollis, on a summer contract. Neil became head groundsman in 2001 after being with the club since 1994. This coincided with the club receiving a substantial amount of money from a benefactor, which they immediately invested into upgrading the facilities on the ground, including the twelve bay practice net area. In 2007 another major project was undertaken when the outfield was koroed off, regraded and reseeded. Now Neil is bringing the latest project to a conclusion.
Neil Godrich
The work of turning the square began in September 2008 with the construction of twelve new strips at right angles to the existing square - six either side. Whilst this has meant that bowlers have been running over the new strips, with wicketkeepers and slips scuffing around at the other end, it was the only way that the work could be carried out without disrupting the 2009 fixtures. Neil hired in a Koro Field Topmaker
from Boughton Turf Management, taking off the surface to a depth of 100mm and infilling with a 100mm of Boughton County loam (32% clay). One hundred and forty tonnes was added in 50mm layers and consolidated, leaving the new soil slightly proud of the surface to allow for any settlement. The new strips were oversown with a Johnson’s Premier cricket seed mix. Once this had germinated it was a case of stimulating growth through the winter and spring so that the new strips would be ready to be part of the ‘outfield’ for
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