Summer Sports - Cricket
In 2015, Rugby Cricket Club will be celebrating its 171st year. The club was experiencing a period of success both on and off the field, after several difficult years. Successive promotions at all levels, achieving Clubmark status in 2011, becoming an ECB Focus Club in 2012 and being awarded Warwickshire Club of the Year in the same year, all appeared positive.
However, in January 2013, the club were unexpectedly informed that its grounds contractor would no longer be trading and, from that point on, they had to fend for themselves.
In this article, the club’s Chairman and Head Groundsman, Colin Watson, explains how, with
considerable time, equipment and financial constraints, they not only managed to prepare for the forthcoming season, but also took the opportunity to assess and then develop how they would independently manage their ground going forward
The first track of a new season R
ugby Cricket Club was founded in 1844, and will be competing in its 171st year in 2015. The club has had biennial fixtures with the MCC since its inception and has
played host to such legends as Pelham Warner and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. We have been fortunate to have had West Indies legend Alvin Kallicharan play for us and, more recently, former Warwickshire CCC captain Michael Powell, who commenced playing for the club whilst at school. We have, over the past five years, concentrated efforts towards not only developing our senior playing base but, as importantly, developing our youth team structure. I have been a member of the club for
thirty-six years, starting off as an enthusiastic scorer. From there, I played and captained the junior team, before captaining the 2nd Xl and then the 1st Xl for several years. I briefly looked after the square whilst being captain of the firsts at this time. I had little idea of the detailed requirements regarding track preparation; equally, there were no other volunteers. Little did I know I would be back doing it again thirty years later! Rugby Cricket Club has had some very
difficult times in the past, its existence challenged on a number of occasions, but a small dedicated group managed to pull it through those difficult times. I am very fortunate at the present time to be Chairman of a thriving club, with a great team of volunteers, all of whom share common goals.
Colin Watson
In 2000, a good friend and volunteer, Phil Hall, began looking after our ground. He took great pride in how it was presented, giving up many hours working with limited resources. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in 2009 and our ground was
then managed by a local contractor until winter 2013, when the company ceased trading. I understood Phil’s passion for getting things right and his desire to constantly make the appearance of our playing facility better. He had an attention to detail and I respected that. Hopefully, with the current team, I can carry that attention to detail forward.
With the announcement in January 2013, and with very little time before season preparations, I took the decision as Chairman to take responsibility for getting us up and running as soon as feasible and manage ground requirements for the fast approaching season ahead. This was to prove to be a very challenging initial three months, but became, over time, a very informative and rewarding period of time. Our square is made up with Kaloam. We
were having increasing issues with performance, especially bounce and consistency of performance. I had previously had an assessment of the square, together with soil analysis, carried out by our regional ECB pitch advisor. This report provided me with a good basis to draft a five year plan towards implementing the recommendations presented, of which there were several. Our pitch performance was not as we would have liked and the professional assessment backed this up. Whilst the findings regarding soil analysis were relatively good, it was clear we needed to review our fertiliser programme, introduce a winter maintenance schedule and dedicate more time to individual track preparation and scheduling. Armed with good, basic knowledge and
what I had learnt from attending the Lantra cricket course, I set about planning a programme of immediate requirements. As important, I then started lobbying for
PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015 I 73
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