Summer Sports - Cricket
Digging out the two new pitches
achieve the finish levels - which had been calculated to be a 1 in 200 fall across the direction of play - so as to blend in with the net area, and the other parts of the square that had been untouched. Settlement was calculated to be 1cm.” During the final process of the project, the team took the opportunity to dig out the two new pitches, excavating to a depth of 225mm, ensuring the base of the excavation was true and level. Then, in 25mm layers, the new loam was placed and compacted down. Keith enlisted the help of Mark Atkins
from Soil Harmony who, for the past three years, has advised him on feeding regimes. Mark was sent to Binder Loams to undertake an independent analysis of the loam. The finished product was screened at 4mm, but Mark noted that its Ph was at 7.9, a little lower than material they had used in the past, so advised that Keith apply some magnesium and manganese to help improve the tensile strength and the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the loam. The magnesium, manganese and sulphur were added at each stage of the laying process, the sulphur to reduce the PH level even further, and an application of 8:12:8 NPK pre-seeding fertiliser, was mixed into the top 100mm. The whole square was then seeded with MM50 in several directions. The whole job took eight days to complete. The weather that week was ideal - dry and sunny, with little wind. It was then a case of watering the square
... whilst overseeding alongside
and waiting for the seed to germinate. With temperatures still in double figures, it was not surprising that, within a week, the seed had successfully germinated. With less than six months to the start of competitive cricket, Keith is hoping the weather during the winter months will be favourable to allow the grass to establish. “I’ll be cutting the square with pedestrian rotaries and, when conditions are right, may get some cylinder mowers on to help consolidate.”
“I’ve even thought about getting some lighting rigs on to help promote grass growth,” says Keith. “I thought about asking Lee Evans at the Millennium Stadium if I could use some of his lights but, in reality, I could do with my own set.” “The lighting rig would need to cover the complete length of the wicket, some 25 metres. It’s not an impossible task but, at the moment, there is nothing on the market that is at the right price.” “I’m more than confident, having seen for myself the extent of the layering and the distinct break between the 30mm of Ongar loam sitting on top of the original mixture of three loams - a mix of Mendip, Surrey, and Nottingham Marl laid some forty years ago. In its day it would have been seen as a massive improvement on what the evidence showed from this excavation profiles. It is quite clear to see that the original pitches were built on top of the indigenous silt soils with what would appear to be a very cream colour loam, a
Banbury or Surrey. Three distinctive layers were very evident, before the three mix construction was placed over the top of the base mix. Now all this material has been stirred up and relaid, hopefully getting rid of the layering breaks, the performance of the square next year can only be better and, over time, will continue to improve.”
The two new pitches will take a bit longer to settle down and come into play, but they will, no doubt, play an important part in securing important fixtures in the coming years. Keith is also confident that, once the powers that be see the performance of these new pitches, they will agree an ongoing programme to reconstruct more in the coming years. “As I sit reading Laurence’s draft article, some three weeks later on a very wet morning in Cardiff, I am very pleased with the germination of the seed - some 90% on the twelve pitches that were ripped up - with around an 80% take on the two pitches that were dug out and relayed,” says Keith “A secondary overseed has been given, and inspection indicates that most of this was just chitting. It has been mown with a 24” Dennis 610 eight times, all in differing directions. The first mow was nine days from seeding, at 13mm, and kept at 13mm for the next two cuts. Then we put it up to 15mm, and it is now at 17mm, which I will hold, depending on the weather, with the mower only tipping the new grass each
Overseeding the two new tracks 86 PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012
Early germination
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