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“I’d never go back to pushing those roll-on covers and dragging flat sheets about. The hover cover is brilliant”


love the Cape especially. I have done ever since I played there. We’ve been going for over twenty years. I love the people and I love the heat. I can’t stand the cold. I’ve helped out at Newlands too, I just love the lifestyle. So, we sat down and talked very seriously - probably over the fifth bottle of red - about what we should do. What decided it for us was a friend of ours, who came back from holiday complaining of stomach cramps and, within weeks, had passed away from cancer of the pancreas. So I said, right, God gives us seventy years, I’m sixty- three now, hopefully I’ve got another seven to enjoy the travelling.


So, it was nothing to do with the pressures of the job?


No, you make your own pressure. My shoulders are big enough to take the pressure, and the guys I work with really are first rate. The best any head groundsman could wish for.


What has been the highlight of your career, both as a player and groundsman?


As a player, the Lord’s finals. It’s such a fantastic atmosphere playing at Lord’s. I’ve played with some top players; Rohan Kanhai, probably one of the best batters I have ever seen, Dennis Amis, who is still a very good mate - although he yaps on about his golf too much these days - and Gary Sobers, without doubt the best cricketer I have ever seen.


As a groundsman, the highlights have to be the 1999 World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Australia, when South Africa needed one run to win off the last ball and Allan Donald didn’t run, and the Ashes Test of 2005, when Australia were eight wickets down


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and eighty odd runs adrift. I came to the ground in the morning and there were thousands of people waiting to get in. The whole five days were fantastic and so noisy but, when Australia got down to wanting just two to win, you could have heard a pin drop, such was the tension. Me and the crew had stood waiting to go out with the hoses, thinking it’ll be all over in a few minutes. Two hours it lasted for! When Harmy got the last wicket the place went ballistic.


A relaxing job


How has cricket groundsmanship changed over the years?


Undoubtedly, the soils. they are far more consistent now. And the amount of cricket being played. If you ask any of the county groundsmen they’ll all say the same thing. There’s simply no time to carry out proper preps. What gets my goat though is the misuse of the net facilities. Constant throw downs from the same spot, and then they complain that the top’s gone. They still carry on though, even though I tell them not to do it!


Machinery has improved too. We used to cut the outfield with the old 1950s 36” Dennis mowers that plodded along at about 1mph. Then we got four Alletts, with four gears, that were capable of going over 20mph. The speed of them shocked our then chairman who, when he saw them being used for the first time, came out and said [puts on posh voice] “this is not a race track”. We told Bernard what had happened, thinking it


might raise a smile, but he just gave us an almighty bollocking. He wasn’t afraid of using the F word, I can tell you. After that we never cut any faster than 5mph, but were always dying to open them up. It used to take four blokes around six hours just to cut the outfield.


Now, we use a Toro triple, which was chosen after we trialed all the major brands. It was the personal preference of the groundsman that had to use it. They are upgraded every three years. They’re a great secondhand buy for anyone who wants one, as they only ever go from the shed to the outfield.


What innovation has made your life easier?


The hover cover. I’d never go back to pushing those roll-on covers and dragging flat sheets about. It’s brilliant. No mucking around with tractors towing on the covers, putting out the flat sheets and pipes, blokes waiting around in the middle to join the covers together. The hover takes about twenty-five seconds to get out into the middle. It’ so quick it’s


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