Summer Sports - Cricket
“The ECB can give me a spec for my pitch, but whether I think it is good enough is up to me”
Every club will have different requirements, yet, the ECB sets out specific guidelines for those clubs to be able to receive funding. I don’t think that’s right. The ECB can give me a spec for my pitch, but whether I think it is good enough is up to me.”
Having said that, the ECB funding streams appear to be pretty good. We’ve just had a four-lane net system installed with ECB funding. I would like to see some of their money put aside for funding machinery and tools for groundsmen though, and that principle applies across bowls, football and rugby. All the talk is good but, when it comes down to keeping pitches and greens going, they are completely off track.” Pete is now back on his favourite subject. “The governing bodies need to talk to us, we’ll tell them where they are going wrong! Look, if the pitches at grassroots level are improved, for any sport, then those pitches will attract more teams and, therefore, more revenue for the club.”
“Management has gone out of me. I don’t want to look after people anymore, or talk about budgets”
44 PC APRIL/MAY 2012
“I suggested to my committee that they should let our outfield be used for football during the winter. They were reluctant at first, but when I explained that any damage would be repairable, they agreed. So, now we have teams from the local prep schools using it. It has helped to increase the club’s profits, and the young lads do very little damage to the surface. We had six games played on it in one day recently, without any ill effects.”
And what of 3G artificial surfaces? “They have their place, certainly for football, but we took a some young lads to Italy recently for a rugby tour, and the burns the kids got on their skin were horrific! In the end, the referee had to tell the kids not to tackle each other hard, and put them down gently for risk of injury. That’s not rugby anymore, is it!”
“You can water a grass pitch in summer but, if you water a 3G, it will dry out really quickly and become rock hard! I can see the financial benefits for lower league football clubs, and it’s certainly the best it has ever been with regard to playability, but it’s not for me! And, if you install a 3G, you can’t play hockey on it.” As we round up the interview, I
ask Pete who his favourite players have been. “My first year in charge here was when Ian Botham came to the fore. He was captain for a one-day game, and the weather was awful. I asked his opinion as to what to do, and he said call it off. I’m not sure if Manchester United playing at home had any bearing on his decision, but that’s where he ended up. I had to back Ian up when my chairman begged to differ. He’s a great bloke and still a great friend. Along with Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd, who was a great servant to Lancashire cricket, those were the players who, when they came to the crease, would empty the bars. Andrew Flintoff, in recent times, had the same effect.” “Bowling-wise, Michael Holding was a joy to watch. Richard Hadley was another.” And his favourite ground? “It has to be Lord’s, it just oozes cricket. Abroad, I enjoyed talking to the groundsman at Christchurch, New Zealand about drop-in wickets, but my favourite would have to be the old Kennington Oval in Barbados, which had such a fabulous atmosphere. The groundsman, Beau, was a tiny little chap who used to mow the wicket with a rotary mower, damp it down in the morning and then spin the roller on it, then let the sun dry it bone hard! It was like a road. It would have been nice to have had sun at Old Trafford occasionally!”
I ask one final question - what advice would you give to cricket groundsmen? His answer was short, “Go into golf!”
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