BOWL’DLY GOING ...
E
ngland’s less than convincing defeat of the Australians to regain the Ashes was achieved amid
some controversy, with groundstaff at Edgbaston and The Oval the target for a few moans from various quarters. The condition of test wickets and outfields is coming under greater scrutiny than ever before as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) pumps millions of pounds into drainage, irrigation and turf projects at cricket’s showcases for the international game. Nigel Gray, head groundsman at the
In twenty years with Hampshire CCC, Nigel Gray has seen the club develop facilities that are set to place it in the premier league of international cricket. But there’s even more to come, as Tom James discovers
Rose Bowl, the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club, is alert to the challenges faced by his counterparts in what is an increasingly high profile position - challenges he knows will be intensified as the club’s Eastleigh headquarters undergoes a £45m sport and leisure redevelopment in its aim to become one of Britain’s leading test match venues. “The plan is to make the Rose Bowl the first modern test ground, under regulations set out by the ECB,” states Nigel unequivocably, and he has good reason to talk in such bold terms, given that the site plans to stage its debut test in 2011.
Hampshire CCC is a club familiar with notable achievements in the game. It became the first PLC in English cricket when the category A Rose Bowl venue changed from a members-owned entity in 2001 under the leadership of chairman and chief executive Rod
Bransgrove. The Rose Bowl complex, complete with the distinctive ‘tented’ main stand, boasts one of the largest playing areas in top-flight cricket, with facilities that include a fully-fledged nursery ground next to the stadium and three net areas. Recalling the transformation in
provision that took place when the club moved its base, Nigel says: “We wanted twenty pitches with a reasonable boundary, as those at Northlands Road were very tight. The new ground gives us 50-yard boundaries and the ability to play first-class cricket on every strip, so that means we no longer need to worry about the quality of others if we needed a back-up.”
Space also allowed the development of a 9-hole golf course, complete with practice green, stretching across 125 acres adjacent to the nursery ground. However, the recent green light for redevelopment of the site clears the way for a new 18-hole course to replace it.
The philosophy behind the bowl shaped arena, designed by architect Sir Michael Hopkins, renowned for Portcullis House in Westminster, the new opera house at Glyndebourne and the Mound Stand at Lord’s - was to make the cricket more intimate by striking a balance between adequate boundaries and keeping the crowd involved with the action, Nigel explains.
The scope of provision is also
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