. . .Datel ine Friday 2nd July. . . Northants Steelbacks v Yorkshire Carnegie. . .
I arrive at the county ground in Northampton on the morning of the Twenty20 match against Yorkshire Carnegie. Accompanying me was Bob Stretton, former ECB Pitches Advisor for Warwickshire and current Head Groundsman at Massey Ferguson Sports Club. It was to be a great opportunity to see what goes on before, during and after a match - and what a match it turned out to be!
07:30
Paul Marshall arrives to check the pitch and see what the weather forecast is predicting for the day. The pitch was covered overnight, with both the raised covers and TTS Climate Covers, to protect it from some forecasted rain.
08:00
Paul oversees the parking and setting up of the lighting generator.
08:30
Paul meets up with other heads of department for final team briefing.
09:30
Paul checks out the weather forecast and briefs his staff on what was said at the
hands on deck. It takes about 20 minutes to remove all the covers and store them away. Daryl is just finishing mowing the outfield!
15:00
Paul Taylor inspects the pitch - not too much to worry about. He is confident it will perform well, based on its performance in the last two games (28th and 29th June). It had been cleaned up and rolled the previous day. It was simply a case of marking out for tonight’s game.
16:00
heads of department meeting whilst, at the same time, reminding the team what they need to do as their final preparations for the game.
10:00
First cup of tea of the day. Met up with the electricians who had come in to check the generator. They would stay on site for the remainder of the day.
11:00
the condition of the wicket with Paul. Paul Taylor and Daryl mark out the pitch using a straight edge and paint brush. Paul then decides to stripe up the square with his Sarp pedestrian rotary.
16:30
Daryl gets out the John Deere Triple and begins mowing and striping up the outfield. This takes over three hours.
12:00 Groundstaff inspect and set up the practice
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Gates open and supporters start arriving. Mark Tagg, the club’s Chief Executive, appears out on the square to see how things are. I am introduced to him and he tells me that he receives the Pitchcare magazine and how much he enjoys reading it. He is very supportive of Paul and his staff, knowing only too well the role they play in making Northampton a successful club. A near to capacity crowd of 4,000 is expected for tonight’s game.
Rudolph) meet out on the pitch, are introduced to the crowd and carry out the toss which Yorkshire win, choosing to bat first.
19:00
The game begins. Yorkshire get off to a flier, with Herschelle Gibbs (don’t worry, we’ll mention an Englishman later) scoring his first T20 century of the summer. The innings closes on 180-3. The wicket produces plenty of bounce and pace, with the ball coming on to the bat nicely.
A few of the home players begin to arrive and wander out onto the ground to discuss
This involves taking down the practice nets, covering over adjacent pitches with coconut matting, placing out the stumps, putting out the infield markers and sorting out the boundary rope.
18:30
The umpires and captains (Steelbacks’ Andrew Hall and Carnegies’ Jacque
The floodlight generator is started up, lights are up and running after ten minutes
18:00
Paul and his staff carry out the final preparations to the square and outfield.
nets areas for both teams. 13:00
Paul keeps an eye on the weather to see if he can take the covers off. He also liaises with other departments to check when the players, coaches and umpires are due to arrive.
The staff take the chance to refuel with some lunch, and keep an eye on how Andy Murray is getting on at Wimbledon.
14:30
Paul decides to remove the covers and begins setting up the pitch, and it’s all
17:00
Both teams come out to begin their warm up routines, utilising areas of the outfield, practice nets and bowling on two of the tracks.
17:45
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