Swelling, shrinkage and motties ... you could be forgiven for thinking you had stumpled onto the set of an X-rated movie.
The Loam Cha I
But, it’s all to do with the slightly less raunchy subject of cricket loams, their compatibilty and playability, a subject Nick Tebbs, Grounds Manager at Oundle School, knows a lot about after recently changing loams on all his squares.
Report by Laurence Gale MSc 66
n the latter part of last year, a message board poster complained of a batch of Kaloam that had been supplied full of stones, with photographic evidence to back up the accusation. Sadly for the postee, the loam had already been laid on the square and the ensuing threads confirmed that the problem was not confined to one batch, as other groundsmen had suffered similar issues with their supplies of Kaloam. Fast forward a few months, and the suppliers, Monro Sports, are now in receivership, with the future of Kaloam, and its sister product, Ongar, uncertain. At the time of going to press, we understand that buyers have been found for both products, but no firm details are available. As is the way with these things, supplies through 2011 may well be affected, although we are at the right end of the year for the matter of supply to be resolved before autumn renovations begin. Both products have been hugely popular with cricket groundsmen over
the years. Kaloam has predominantly been used on squares for junior cricket, with its stronghold being the Midlands, Gloucestershire and Somerset. Ongar is more widely used, with many of the county squares incorporating the product. Both are renowned for having a high clay content.
So, as well as the issue of stones in the
square for this coming season - not good for cylinder mowers or batsmen - many groundsmen have been asking whether it is possible to change the make-up of their square and introduce a new loam. So, with that question buzzing around my head, I contacted a few groundsmen to find out if anyone had carried out the process recently, and what were the methods involved. One name that kept being mentioned was Nick Tebbs, Grounds Manager at Oundle School near Peterborough, who had moved from Kaloam to Boughton County Loam. At the end of February, I met Nick, and Head Groundsman, Stuart Palmer, to find out just what it entailed, and his
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