L-r: Bub Hatton, Neil Godrich and Ben Howe
the 2009 season. Regular cricket square maintenance regimes were being carried out on the remaining east/west strips. So then, Neil had a ‘square’ that was a unique cross shape. The original square had twenty-four strips on it. The new one has been reduced to eighteen, with eight of these (four each end) providing practice pitches during the 2009 season. This has allowed Neil to monitor their performance and, so far, there have been no problems, other than keeping them covered to retain their firmness. At the end of this season Boughton
were brought in to fraise mow the new square, taking off about 10mm of vegetation. Neil and his team completed the rest of the work, cleaning up, scarifying in two directions with their SISIS Rotorakes, topdressing with Boughton County loam and overseeding with Johnson’s Premier cricket seed mixture. The same work was carried out on the twelve bay practice net area. A total of seventeen tonnes of loam was used (twelve on the square and five on the practice nets). The square and net areas will be aerated a couple of times to a depth of 100mm, once in November and once in December, using the Groundsman spiker fitted with triple needle tines. The outfield will be aerated using a vertidrain later in the winter.
At the time of writing, the installation of the new outfield irrigation system was imminent. This will consist of thirty-two pop-up heads, a brand new tank and
pump. All this work will be carried out by Osprey Irrigation. All this ground work has also meant that the boundaries have had to be extended or, in some instances, reduced by a few metres to accommodate the new square and comply with ECB regulations. To help protect the new square the club invested in new flat sheets from JMS Cricket and Stuart Canvas. These two companies were Neil’s preferred choice and, as you can imagine, the covers have been in constant use this summer, as has the recently purchased Blotter! Another recent purchase has been a new Autoroller that can be ballasted with water in half tonne ratios. Since becoming head
groudsman at Derbyshire CCC, Neil has been encouraged by how progressive the club is. This has meant that he has been ‘full on’ since he took over the reins. He has nothing but praise for the commitment of his staff and the dedication they show to producing the best pitches. Neil has also been grateful for the support he has had from Boughton Loam & Turf Management, who always go out of their way to help and supply specialist equipment at a moments notice.
Once all the renovations are completed the staff will be taking some long well earned time off, recharging their batteries after an eventful and long
season. Available time to prepare pitches is
reducing as the fixture list gets more and more crowded. The weather has also had its part to play with time to prepare a decent wicket being compromised. Where once fourteen day preparation was the norm, now it is more like ten days. It is a new challenge, one that Neil
N
Perimeter of County Ground
Net area with 12 strips
Position of setting sun
New 2,000 seater stand behind bowler’s arm
Original 24 strip square on east/west alignment
6 central strips retained and rotated to form part of new square
6 new strips laid on a north/south alignment either side of existing square
Oval
Perimeter of County Ground
will surely face head on in the coming seasons albeit on a brand new square. At least the sun won’t be setting on Derbyshire Cricket Club next season. Indeed, the future looks bright!
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