SEED SUPPLIERS
Pitchcare Classifieds SOIL ANALYSIS
OUTSTANDING GRASS MANY POSSIBILITIES.
A2LA Accredited & USGA Approved physical soil testing laboratory for the analysis of construction materials for the sportsturf industry
Tresco & Bryher Cricket Club
Islands of granite and sand (total population 1,600 - a large mainland village size) stuck forty miles out in the wild Atlantic, prey to wind and weather, are always going to find it tough going to come up with playing surfaces of mainland quality. It’s just not going to happen.
Each island has its ‘sportsfield’ on which are held everything from cricket and football matches, to fetes, music bashes and anything that requires some space to stage.
On St. Mary’s - the ‘capital’ island - it is the Duchy of Cornwall/Prince Charles owned Garrison field which is leased to the school and would be the envy of many a larger community on the mainland. A gang mower from an adjacent camp site has managed to keep it in good order for the football season, whilst the cricketers who also use the ground don’t have to worry; the wicket is an artificial one. Even this can be lethal. Former Somerset and England paceman Ken Palmer once bowled a ball that took off, cleared the keeper’s head by feet and went for six. “I’ll kill someone at this rate,” he reportedly said, before throttling back to military medium. All island cricketers are used to “rogue” bounces in the outfield.
Indeed, all island cricket grounds (the smaller ones are termed ‘off-islands’, and some have populations of under 100) have matting or artificial cricket wickets. It is the only way to ensure a regular and reasonably fair surface.
In the old days, players had to lug the roll of matting out to the
middle by hand and laboriously hammer in the spikes to hold it in place.
On Tresco, held on lease from the Duchy of Cornwall by successive members of the Dorrien Smith family since the mid 1800s, the lovely little cricket ground near the sea at Old Grimsby is kept in nick by cricket loving gardeners from the island’s world famous sub- tropical Abbey Gardens.
“They bring a rather upmarket ride-on mower to bear, courtesy Mr Dorrien Smith,” said the gardens’ marketing manager Alasdair More and a member of the cricket side. “And I am sure that there is no need to point out that the rabbit-scrape filler is, of course, the most important person involved in maintaining our pristine outfield.”
“Precious little groundsmanship is involved,” said Alasdair, “although there are the odd occasions when seagull fluff and feathers need plucking from the pitch itself as they adhere to the fibres of the artificial wicket!”
On St. Agnes, the sports ground, at Priglis fringes the beach, and a well struck pull can deposit the ball there - or on the bank above it! Here, like, the other off-islands there is an artificial strip. The outfield is uniformly rough and there is no pavilion - the players gather in the shade of some tamarisk trees.
This position is replicated on St. Martin’s; another beautiful ground bordering the beach.
It has always been said of Scilly that its strength lies not in what it has, rather in what it hasn’t.
barenbrug.co.uk 01359 272000
www.pitchcare.com SPORTS SURFACE CONTRACTORS
Contact ETL on 01786 449195 email:
europeanturf@aol.com www.etl-ltd.com
Sports Ground Contractors Ltd
Vertidraining, Hollow Coring, Overseeding, Draining, Gravel Banding, Field Top Maker, Deep Scarifying
email:
info@agripower.co.uk www.agripower.co.uk
Tel: 01494 866776 Mobile: 07860 259692
Tel: 01284 735105 Email:
peter@buryturfcare.com www.buryturfcare.com
SCONSTRUCTION DRAINAGE
Sand Slitting, Gravel Banding V RENOVATION
erti Draining, Hollow Coring, Scarifying, Koro Field Topmaker, Topdressing, Overseeding, Sand Spreading
ports Fields and Golf Courses
St Martin’s Cricket Club
www.pitchcare.com
Tel: 01772 780545
danvicturfcare@btconnect.com
Mobile: 07768 122577 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 PC 145
RANGE
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