Geoff Calcott comments ... New Roro covers
slog, the club are now reaping the benefits, with the facilities open most days of the week to accommodate the increased usage. With the clubhouse issues resolved, Hunningham turned their attention to the playing facilities. If new players were to be attracted, these also had to be improved. Dave Reason had been the
“I began working with Hunningham Cricket Club in January of this year and immediately carried out two sessions with the Groundsman punch action spiker to 100mm depth at 50mm centres - roughly at three week intervals, but only when conditions were suitable. Even with the bad weather, the square had, remarkably, remained disease free. In late February, two 25kg bags of autumn/winter fertiliser were put down to toughen up the grass in readiness for pre- season rolling. Core samples showed a ph of 6.5, which is ideal for a dwarf perennial ryegrass square.
By March, the square was in wonderful condition for pre-season rolling - the malleable conditions could not be missed and I managed ten complete passes of the square with the Auto-roller, finishing on the line of the pitches on 21st March. Height of cut was gradually reduced from 25mm to 18mm by the end of month.
Climate covers have improved germination
groundsman for a number of years, but had to give up three years ago due to work commitments. His successor was Simon Greaves who also had to retire at the end of last year, leaving just a group of willing volunteers with little or no experience.
So, the club has hired the services of Geoff Calcott, ECB pitch adviser for Warwickshire, sportsturf contractor, Pitchcare trainer and contributor to this magazine, who is advising and assisting on the management of the square and outfield.
Geoff has been a self-employed sportsground contractor since 1984 and has worked at many venues covering a variety sports, including rugby, football and cricket. He currently looks after King Edward VI School grounds in Stratford, and helps to carry out end of season renovations at more than twenty cricket clubs within the county. Hunningham pay a fee for Geoff ’s services, which includes pre and post season activities and also regular visits to apply fertilisers and tonics, whilst also keeping an eye on the maintenance carried out by the club’s volunteer groundsmen. The club’s square provides seven senior and three junior strips, all built on Boughton County loam, so it is important that, with the amount of fixtures being played, they are repaired and rotated ‘sensibly’. Six games per track is the norm, and this is where an improved maintenance regime will certainly help. With the club’s finances now on a solid footing, they have invested in
machinery. In the shed is a Ransomes 213D Triple mower for the outfield, a Ransomes Auto Certes 51 cylinder mower for prepping the wickets, and a Ransomes Marquess 61 for cutting the square. A rotary mower and strimmer are used for cutting perimeter areas and around obstacles, whilst an Auto-roller, acquired from Worcestershire County Cricket Club, is used for rolling the square. Geoff Calcott supplies whatever is needed in terms of aeration and scarifying equipment. They have also invested in two Climate Cover Systems from total-play Ltd, along with roll on roll off covers.
The club are now running junior teams at all levels from under 10 to under 17, the 1st XI competing in the Warwickshire County League, and the clubhouse more than earning its keep. Dave Mundy and Dave Reason have every reason to be delighted with their efforts to date. And, with the addition of the services of Geoff, they know the ground is in good hands. They have already seen improvements in the ground’s overall presentation and how the square has been playing, and hope it will become a long term partnership to ensure that cricket will be an attraction for the next generation of village cricketers. With the club celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary this year, the future certainly looks bright for this ‘small’ village club.
late March had to be watered in, such were the dry conditions. The square was then verticut and heavily watered on a weekly basis. The first game was on 7th April - pretty early
An application of a liquid worm controller in
for a small village club. It played okay, with over 450 runs being scored. An application of 2 x 25kg spring/summer fertiliser had to be watered in heavily.
The height of cut on match pitches was kept at 6mm and, although it sounds high, the extra grass gives more pace, bounce and zip in my opinion. Height of cut on the square is 15mm increased to 18mm in light of the extremely dry conditions. Through May, June and July, I carried out regular verticutting of the square on a four weekly cycle, with fertiliser application every 5/6 weeks. The pitches are repaired once they have come out of play, usually after 5/6 games.
As the season comes to an end, I will talk to committee regarding funding for heavy duty scarification, with a Graden in three directions, to remove the thatch/buried fibre layer. On my travels around Warwickshire, whether
as part of the ECB funded PQS (Performance Quality Standards) scheme in conjunction with the local Cotswold Hills League, or as part of the Warwickshire Groundsmen’s Association PQS scheme, there are clubs whose cricket squares receive little or no attention in the crucial autumn period. The major problem is one of thatch and buried fibre which, of course, is usually the sign of little or no deep scarification having taken place at the end of the playing season. When one considers that, on average, only 70% of grass clippings actually go into the box, there will always be thatch - it is a fact of life. Regular verticutting and power brushing throughout the playing season will help reduce the thatch content, but the autumn period is absolutely crucial in controlling what was missed. More often than not, cricket clubs tend either
to ignore the thatch problem or are simply not vigorous enough in their approach. Don’t forget this will have to be done every season. In cases where clubs have not dealt with this
problem (and there are many), the costs of recovering the square to an acceptable level are going to be high, particularly if the last resort is to employ the use of a Koro Field Topmaker.
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