Summer Sports - Cricket
Matt Merchant on the newly turned square, with his makeshift grow lights going about their business and, in the background, the famous old members pavilion undergoing a facelift to bring it up to the same height as The Point
W
alking across the car park of Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground, my thoughts turn to a bitterly cold December morning in 2011, standing in
front of Roedean School overlooking the English Channel and reporting for Pitchcare; the last time I remember feeling winds as bitingly chilly as these. Today, no doubt, it’s business as usual as far as the weather is concerned in the North-west, but much has changed since I was last at the home of Lancashire cricket.
The welcome though, was no less inviting, as I lean forward fighting against the Manchester climate and construction dust blowing across the site to greet an ever-smiling Matt Merchant, the Grounds Manager, in what will prove a key season that will see Test cricket return to this iconic venue. Sadly for me, the aroma of bacon and egg sandwiches was all I was lucky enough to enjoy this time round, as former Wisden Cricketer of the Year, Jack Bond, cooked up one of his famous fry- ups.
At eighty years old, the former Lancashire cricketer’s talents stretch beyond cricketing prowess and bacon and egg sarnies though and, no sooner
was my jotter pad out and Dictaphone whirring, than a fine cup of tea was warming my hands. The well-used and increasingly dishevelled portable cabin ‘brew hut’ (as it’s dubbed in these parts) is one of the last bastions of the ‘old’ Old Trafford, with the turfcare team’s move to a new state-of-the-art concrete home, underneath the dramatic lines of the media centre delayed until the start of the new season in April. Still, Matt and his merry men have
sheltered here for four years, so I suppose suffering its cramped confines a little longer won’t be that hard to stomach.
A fearful notion suddenly struck me.
Would Jack’s fry-ups be off the menu at the new brew hut - all shiny new and hi- tech? There would be trouble in the ranks if they were, I mused, deciding not to raise the subject with Matt. Staring at the construction site behind the cabin, the location chosen for the new temporary stand that will bolster stadium capacity, I asked myself - what multitudes must have questioned in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - how will this ever be ready in time?
The imposing and heatedly debated
The Point conference centre now has an imposing counterpart, also decked in a fiercely red facade, erected on the opposite side of the ground, with two sections of seating breaking up the bright facias of the two media viewing areas. Beneath the new building is the spacious turf machinery and maintenance area, which will allow Matt and the team instant access to the outfield and square. One of the new electrically controlled sightscreens is positioned at one end of the compound. The turfcare team will certainly be in the firing line when batsmen haul a six straight over bowlers pitching up to the famous Stretford end. This year has also ushered in a new era for Lancashire CCC, following the decision to sell the naming rights of the ground, which will officially be known as something other than Old Trafford for the first time since 1936. The ten year, multi-million pound sponsorship deal that the county has struck with flourishing carrier, Emirates, adding to funds already accrued from land sold to Tesco.
The latest move means the airline has further expanded its cricket portfolio, which already includes Durham CCC’s ground - the Emirates Durham
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