Summer Sports - Cricket
“If any governing bodies out there want facts and figures to take any of these simple innovations to the next level, please let’s get off the fence, sit round a table and continue trials, so that we are in a position to ensure that a lot more cricketers can benefit from these small beginnings”
Heater/blowers were in action for eleven days
enough time to get the tracks prepared in readiness for the first net session on the 5th March. With standing water on the net areas, and taking into account the weather forecast, he knew the only way he would be able to get them up to speed would be to deploy two indirect diesel heater/blowers to help dry out the profile. They were in use on a daily basis for a total of eleven days, utilising them between the normal preparations of mowing, brushing, scarifying and rolling. All the hard work paid off, with Keith producing some relatively hard practice nets for the time of the year. Knowing what he could achieve with the aid of the heater, he decided to utilise them to work in conjunction with his LED lights under the hover cover to help prepare for his first fixture out on the square.
C during the day, it was imperative to raise the temperature under the cover to aid the drying out of the soil profile. With the combination of the heaters, blowers and lights, Keith was able to hold temperatures around 15O
With night-time temperatures well below freezing, and only rising to around 4O
C under the
cover which, in turn, saw temperature at a depth of 100mm rise from 7O 12O
C.
Keith explained that the heaters were not left on for long periods, perhaps just for an hour or so from 7.00am prior to pitch preparations, coupled with ten minutes rolling. He would repeat the process in the afternoon. Care was required not to cook/crust the top of the profile or use the rolling programme to bring up soil moisture to the surface where it would be lost by evapotranspiration.
C to over
He has been pleased with the results and found that, after several days, his pitches were fairly hard for the time of the year. Keith is always keen to trial new methods and ways of working to help achieve his goals. His trials with the LED lights has resulted in the ECB setting up a research programme at Loughborough University to understand the benefits of using such technology. Keith explains the processes in more
detail: “All was going well with pitch 20, using the hover and heater/blower. The pitch was drying to depth without any major cracking, that is, until we had 50mm of rain on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd March, just two days before the Worcestershire fixture. I was unable to get the hover and side sheets off until Saturday morning because of the
APRIL/MAY 2013 PC 95
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